One Hundred Moments
by Laineybug04
Summary: These two hedgehogs weren't meant to be together. Everything was stacked against them from the beginning- from her love for another hedgehog to his obligations as an Agent of G.U.N. What does it take for two people to come together despite the odds? How many fleeting and harrowing moments before they can have their happily ever after?
1. Do you Want me to Leave?

"Do you want me to leave?"

Amy Rose was surrounded by green serenity. The mystic ruins seemed to engulf her in a world of silence and dense jungle. The warmth of the day was not oppressive, but never absent on such a clear autumn day. It was a setting best meant for solitude, meditation, and brooding over the most intricate complexities in life.

Amy wanted nothing to do with any of that.

A crack shattered the silence like thunder as a tree fell to the forest floor. Smaller explosions followed one after the other as Amy worked her way through the jungle. Sweat poured down her brow and her face filled with such determination for her quest. With every swing of her hammer she would growl, grunt and give a cry of frustration. Over and over again she would swing and her hammer would completely obliterate her targets. She wanted no silence; no thoughts; no feelings to intrude on her today.

No more talking. No more questions or what ifs. Just here and now!

God forbid she try to predict the future again.

"What are you doing?"

Amy stopped her hammer but allowed the momentum of the swing to turn her towards the voice. Her emerald eyes as wild as the jungle around her as she faced down her opponent.

The fight in her died the moment she saw Shadow the God-Damned Hedgehog.

The silence cascaded on her once more. The heat, the weight of her hammer and troubles had her lowering her hammer but her annoyance and bafflement kept her brain going in a loop that simply repeated...

"What?" she asked, breathless from her exercise.

Shadow rolled his eyes, "What the hell are you doing?"

Amy was silent. What the hell _was_ she doing? She'd come to the Mystic Ruins for a moment of peace; a place to just be AWAY from...

"No," she thought, "You'll think about it again and start crying. Shadow's the _last_ person to cry in front of."

"Nothing," she said finally.

Shadow's eyes widened in disbelief as he threw his hands out to motion Amy destruction.

"Okay, so maybe not 'nothing' in the strictest sense," she argued, "But no one else is here..."

"Because this is Federal Land owned by the United Federation and you are trespassing."

Amy's heart stopped, her face paled and her hands found their way to her growing headache, "You're not here to just say hi...

Her hammer disappeared and she looked to Shadow, her eyes watering but filled with determination, "Do you want me to leave or are you here to arrest me?"

Shadow's face was unreadable and Amy felt herself being judged by his gaze. She refused to falter or tear her gaze away from him, even as he reached behind him and pulled out a single ring. He threw it behind him and motioned for Amy to follow him. Amy gave him a confused look but obeyed. When the ring grew and revealed itself as a portal, Amy gave a snort.

"So it _was_ Team Dark that broke into Rotor's files," Amy commented snidely.

"Not exactly."

They stepped through the portal into a place that was even more muggy than the jungle, with greenery to match. Amy had to shield her eyes from the bright lights as Shadow marched on.

"I'd hardly call the R&D department part of Team Dark." Shadow continued as he searched through the greenery, "We don't care where they get their ideas, so long as there's results."

"You could have just asked, you know," Amy retorted, "We would have been open to a trade."

Shadow snorted, "You have no idea what the Federation would have to do in order to facilitate such a trade in the first place."

"And the Ultimate Life form is totally okay with a political nightmare once Tails and Rotor find out who broke into their stuff?" Amy asked, "Much less how the King or Princess Sally will feel about it?"

Shadow finally stopped in front of a grove of oddly familiar saplings with a quizzical look on his face, "Politics aren't my problem. Besides, the only proof you have on the matter is my ULTIMATELY uninformed theory on it.."

Amy couldn't help the small smile that snuck onto her face, "Did you just...?"

Shadow gave a final nod before he looked back to Amy, "Hmph, you have bigger problems to deal with at the moment. How many did you destroy?"

Amy gave a blush before looking away, "Maybe five of them? I wasn't there that long..."

Shadow gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "I should have enough. We'll take ten for now and if we need more we can come back."

Amy's ears twitched towards the trees and Shadow, her brain not quite catching up to the situation, "And do... what?

Shadows eyes held hers for a moment, half-lidded and filled to brim with bemusement. Finally he rolled his eyes and grabbed two shovels leaning against the nearby wall.

"I thought you were the smart one," he murmured as he held out one of the shovels, "We're digging up the trunks and replanting the trees. In return, you won't be arrested for inciting a political nightmare of your own."

Shadow's face was smug but hers was puzzled. She raised an eyebrow before taking the shovel, "You're helping me out? Why?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed, then turned back and gently picked up one of the saplings, "You'd screw it up, otherwise," he groused.

Amy could feel the old smile sneaking back on her face. She mimicked his way of picking up the sapling before following him through the portal. The smile failed her once she stepped back into the jungle.

She'd destroyed far more than eight trees. She'd created a meadow of beheaded trees. What looked like dozens of stumps filled her with a sense of self loathing and guilt, as though the thousands of splinters she'd sent flying all landed in her heart.

"Of course you did," she thought, "This is why they did that. This is why you failed. Why you're not good enough. You're too stupid, _angry_ , _selfish,_ **_weak, pathetic_**..."

"Amy."

Amy's head swerved towards Shadow. He had a concerned look on his face and his hands were held out towards the sapling in her hands. She shook her head and handed the plant over.

"I'm fine, sorry. I just... didn't realize how bad it all was..."

Shadow paused at this. His ears turned back flat on his head and his eyes fell into a guilty look. He set the plant down next to his own and looked to Amy. He started to say something, but then shook his head and instead said, "This will take more than a day to fix. Luckily I have enough saplings, but I'll need to replenish those by taking cuttings from the other trees."

Amy shook her head, wiping her eyes as discreetly as possible in order to clear them, "Are you sure? I... I really messed this up here..."

"I only have about fifteen of this particular kind, but this jungle uses a combination of several different species. All told I have enough to replace five meadows like this one."

Amy's eyes widened in shock, "How many does G.U.N have?! Are you sure it's okay to take so many?"

Shadow snorted and a smirk grew on his face, "They don't have any. These are from my personal collection. Let's gather up the saplings I have then we can start digging up the stumps."

Amy's mouth fell open but followed him wordlessly back to the portal. Now she took the time to see the single biggest Green house she'd ever seen in her entire life. Floor to ceiling was covered with everything green with specks of bright colors here and there from some flowering vines. Amy couldn't help but marvel at just how much there was.

"I never knew you were a gardener," Amy murmured, "How do you have time for all of this?"

"I don't sleep."

Amy gasped at that, her hands turned to fists in her hips, "Shadow that's so bad for you!"

"Save it. I don't need as much sleep as the rest of you," he turned to her, holding two saplings in each arm this time, "Ultimate life form, remember?"

Amy gave a lame, "oh" and grabbed her own set of saplings from him, "Still... you can't take care of all this by yourself, can you? What do you do for missions?"

On this went for the time it took to move the saplings. In that time Amy learned he had started his own nursery business and that he used interns from the local university to help look after his trees while on missions.

"They're all idiots, but they're willing to learn at least. They're not so useless..."

She learned how to dig out a stump that day, sweat poured down her neck as she and Shadow raced to uproot over twenty stumps. Shadow won, naturally, but Amy couldn't help but have a good time. She learned that Rouge had challenged him to find a hobby six years ago and this was what he'd landed on. He'd started with flowers but he loved trees the most. She learned the difference between root cuttings and stem cuttings and all the different ways one could essentially make a clone of a plant. That he had a small seasonal garden set aside for food that he would practice cooking with when he had the time. That his dream was to grow his own coffee tree so he could make his favorite snack at home.

"Coffee plants are so damn finicky," he grumbled, "Good coffee beans are worth it though."

"Yea but... you really eat them raw?" Amy asked with a small chuckle, "That sounds so bitter!"

"Not raw, just after roasting them," Shadow corrected, "They're perfect. None of that dressed up nonsense people insist on."

"But you still like vanilla ice cream?" Amy questioned.

"I have a very wide palate," Shadow insisted, making Amy laugh again.

Amy was doing a lot of that today, she realized.

It wasn't until about sunset that Amy started getting tired and hungry and suggested taking a break. Shadow gave a small, derisive laugh but agreed.

He realized he was laughing a lot today, too.

After gathering a few sandwiches via the portals, Amy and Shadow sat to enjoy the fruits of their labor with ice cold water to wash it all down. They ate in silence, gazing over their hard work half done as the sun set. All the stumps were gone and a third of the saplings lay in their places. Peace had settled into Amy's heart even as she was sweaty and covered in dirt. The day felt hard-won to her.

Finally after a final swig of water, Shadow turned to Amy, took a deep breath and asked, "So what happened?"

Amy nearly choked on her sandwich. With her mouth still full, she looked to Shadow. She debated playing dumb or telling him something, ANYTHING else besides what'd actually happened.

If Shadow had shown any other face than the one he'd shown, she would have done it. She'd have told him she was frustrated that she wasn't as strong as everyone else, as fast, or as intelligent. Hell, she could have told him she was frustrated by which side of the bed she woke up on!

If only he'd done anything but look genuinely curious and concerned.

Amy gave a hard swallow, her half of her pride going down with the sandwich.

"It's... really stupid," she warned.

Shadow stared back, again in bemusement, "This isn't the smartest thing you've done.

Amy's mouth twitched, but she couldn't find an argument against that. She took a deep breath and a long swig from her water bottle. After one more deep breath in and out she looked on towards the meadow.

"... Sonic... proposed to Sally..."

A confused look fell over Shadow's face, "He... proposed what to the princess?"

Amy's laugh was hollow and painful sounding, "You're really going to make me say it?"

Shadow glared at her, but his eyes told her he was still waiting.

Amy rolled her eyes, cursing his genuine confusion, "And I thought _you_ were the smart one..." she murmured.

She took a shaking breath as tears filled her eyes, "He, uh... asked her to marry him."

The sun set completely behind them, casting the world in the same dark and cold Amy felt.

"And... that's bad?"

Amy's head swung towards Shadow, his confusion making her more angry than anything she'd felt all day.

"OF COURSE NOT!" she cried, "It's great! It's beautiful! Everyone is happy! And if I really loved Sonic and had faith in my fate being tied to his forever, I'd be okay too!"

She started pacing angrily around the meadow, hands on hips and tears glittering in her eyes. Shadow jumped up, his eyes wide at her reaction. He had not been prepared to get her angry again, "You loved him?"

Amy stopped, took another deep breath, then tried and failed to leave the sarcasm out of her voice, "Yes... Shadow. A lot. I've always loved him. Ever since I first heard about him, I've loved him. Followed him everywhere. Fought for him. Watched him die, watched him come back, watched him save the world over and over, ALWAYS knowing that he and I would be together if I was just GOOD enough.

"I'm not, though. I can't compare to her! He had her from the very beginning and I was just too stupid to see it. He joined the Freedom Fighters for her, he fought for her country time and time again. And he'd say it wasn't _just_ for her but we ALL know it was...

"But I could deal with ALL of that. I can deal with being angry and heartbroken, JUST FINE. But EVERYONE else just..."

The tears started falling then. She felt herself crumple, first her knees then her waist to curl her into a ball, her hands over her eyes.

Shadow for his part, approached Amy as though she were a bomb that had gone off. He knelt in front of her, took a deep breath and asked, "What?"

Amy sniffled, trying to stifle a sob, but trembling instead, "Sonic... proposed to her two months ago. They didn't tell me about it and I had to find out from the news today."

The pink ball curled still further, her hands wrapping around her knees and resting her now streaming eyes against her knees, "I'm twenty years old and my own friends still think I'm the same stupid little girl who's too fragile to deal with anything and too stupid to know it."

Shadow blinked slowly, letting the situation wash over him over and over, just trying to make heads or tails out of all of it. It left him with no answers and a crying pink hedgehog when he wanted neither.

"Do... you want me to leave?" Shadow asked.

"Please don't."

Amy paused then shook her head, "No, that's not fair. I'm sorry. I'm not your responsibility."

"Yes, you are," he corrected, "At least until we finish planting these."

Amy gave an unwilling chuckle. Her tears slowed and she gently uncurled herself, "Yea... We should finish this up."

Shadow shook his head, "That can wait until tomorrow. I don't want to be here much longer."

He walked towards Amy while pulling something out of his pocket. Amy looked closer to see it was a cloth handkerchief. Amy thanked him with a tiny voice and dabbed her eyes with it. When she tried to return it Shadow put his hands out.

"Blow your nose," he demanded, "Then return it tomorrow morning, after you wash it."

"But...!"

"It's fine. You won't ruin it."

Amy's ears fell flat against her head. She blew her nose and stowed the handkerchief away in her own pockets.

"I'm... sorry for unloading on you," she murmured, "And for destroying all these trees. I didn't really have anyone else to talk to and I let my feelings get the best of me. You shouldn't have to deal with..."

Amy couldn't finish her sentence. Her voice shook and she felt tears well up in her eyes again. Instead she motioned to their half finished job, slowly getting darker as the moon rose.

Shadow shook his head, "It was certainly stupid of them to hide that from you."

Amy's eyes widened at that. She openly stared at Shadow scratched his head in confusion, "I have no idea why they thought that was a good idea. I don't care about... romance or marriage or any of that, so I don't really understand why you're angry."

"But... I do remember what it's like to feel like you could follow someone to the end of the world," he admitted, "I do remember putting all my own hopes and dreams into that particular basket and watching it burn in front of me. It's not the same thing but... I can't really call you stupid for feeling the way you do. Especially since... if you hadn't, none of us would be here."

Amy felt her own wave of confusion wash over her, "Are you... talking about the Ark?"

Shadow nodded and smirked, "I never got to thank you for that one."

Amy blushed while her eyes fluttered back towards the ground, "I didn't do all that much. I just... sort of talked at you."

"And if you hadn't followed that Blue Hedgehog up into space you wouldn't have been there to talk me out of blowing up the entire world," he argued, "Or lead your own team against Dr. Eggman's armada a few months later; or put me back on the right track during the Black arms invasion; or any of the other times you risked your own neck to save people. You can say your intent was to impress and pursue Sonic all you want but in the end nothing matters but your actions."

Shadow gently but firmly rested a hand on her shoulder, "You've done a lot of good. Not getting what you want doesn't make you unworthy. It simply is. I would hope the hedgehog strong enough to do all _that_ is strong enough to move on from... all this mess."

Amy's mouth opened slightly in awe and a smile began to creep over her face. She gently placed her hand over Shadow's.

"Thank you," she said earnestly, "I... I'm glad you heard me out today. And helped me rebuild all this."

It was Shadow's turn to blush. He retracted his hand as though it burned. He gave a dismissive wave, "Hmph. It's too late to finish tonight so we'll finish this tomorrow morning. I expect to see you here at dawn."

Amy's smile grew, more quickly and brightly this time. She gave a salute and a giggle, "I'll be sure to bring the coffee beans!"

It was too dark to see, but as Amy pulled out her own warp ring and leaped through into her living room, she could have sworn she saw Shadow give his own tentative smile in the dark.


	2. I Promise it Won't Happen Again

" **I promise it won't happen again."**

"Why do you even wear clothes?"

Amy paused, one hand holding out the bodice of her dress, the other hovering a napkin over the purple syrup stain she'd just acquired. Amy rolled her eyes at him and continued to dab her signature red dress.

"What kind of question is that?" she asked with a wry smile.

"The kind that demands an answer," he replied, "People wear them but then get upset when they inevitably get them messed up. It sounds pointless in the end."

"Says the hog who rides his precious motorcycle into battle," Amy smirked, returning to her black currant parfait, "Don't tell me that thing doesn't even get a scratch through any of your missions. I've seen how Team Dark operates first hand."

Shadow would have answered but it was interrupted by a loud string of chirps and beeps coming from Amy. Amy's smug attitude was immediately replaced with an annoyed one as she shoved her hand into her pocket and shut the phone up. She took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Omega alone can't walk into a room without blowing something up, it's always your way or the highway, and Rouge can only do so much. Why _wouldn't_ your motorcycle get trashed a few times?"

"The difference..." he obliged slowly, a skeptical look etched into his features, "Is that I don't get angry. I enjoy fixing my bike. No one else likes taking care of their clothes. They get stupidly upset when their clothes have so much as a loose thr..."

Amy's phone rang again. Again, Amy shoved her hand in her pocket and this time pulled it out, shut it off and violently tossed it onto the table. She gave two deep breaths then said, "Because they're cute and a lot of people don't know how to let things go."

Shadow looked from the phone to Amy and back a few times before sighing. He contemplated pretending none of that was happening. He'd done it before. For the past month in fact. But the phone thing had been going on long enough and GODS knew he hated stupid bullshit.

Still... as much as he didn't want to address the stupid, there was only one way to get rid of it.

"Speaking of letting things go, when is that going to stop?"

"When Tails decides to stop hacking my phone and unblocking everyone..." Amy murmured contrarily.

"You know what I'm asking," Shadow grumbled, "If you wanted it to stop you'd buy a new phone and change your number."

Amy opened her mouth then closed it again and glared, "Maybe my bills are..."

"You were just bragging last week that you have no bills," he countered, "Either forgive them or change your number."

Amy groaned, "But they're such JERKS! Besides, if they really cared about me, they'd give me time and space!"

"I'm tired of listening to your phone ring. Choose."

Amy gave a small, slow huff, but looked grumpily resigned to her fate. She opened her mouth to speak when both of their ears twitched. They'd heard a series of chirps coming from Amy's phone. An icon with twin tails over a blue background flashed on the screen for brief moment before the screen grew dark and reported an incoming call from Sonic. Amy's face went red and she gave a small shriek of rage as she violently grabbed the phone and crushed it in her hands. Shadow watched wide-eyed as Amy let the now useless pieces of her phone drop onto the table in front of Shadow. She then picked up her purse, dropped a few bills, and flashed a dangerous smile, "You're right. I really need to stop whining. Let's go get me a new phone!"

As she flounced out the door, Shadow couldn't help but give a quiet chuckle. He tucked it behind his hands and followed her stony-faced out the door.

* * *

God he regretted everything.

"Why the hell is everything so expensive?!" Amy exclaimed quietly, "Seriously, Rotor could build dozens of these for a quarter of the price..."

Shadow cradled his head in his hands as he contemplated his life choices. They'd been at this store in a _mall_ of all places for thirty minutes already and he'd learned a while ago not to answer anymore. She would not respond appropriately to anything other than...

"Mmhmm."

"Well they're not going to break me, I'm going to get a flip phone! I waste way too much time on the internet anyway..."

Shadow took a deep breath. He weighed his options in his mind. On the one hand- the single most boring thing they could do together was being done at this very moment. He thought longingly back to the diner and it's rather delicious ice cream sundaes, before he'd opened his big fat mouth and stated the obvious.

On the other hand...spending time with Amy was normally so much more...

Well, long story short it was all her fault he was here in the first place.

"Alrighty! I'm done!"

Shadow's ears perked up, "It's over?"

"Yup! Got it all done," Amy crowed, proudly, "That didn't take too long..."

"Never again."

"Huh?"

"I'm never going shopping with you again," he declared, "This was boring and a near complete waste of my time."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Well the worst is over, you big baby. Come on, let's check out the rest of the mall!"

"Nope."

"Why not?!"

"I made a promise and I keep my promises."

"Ugh, you're such a brat. Come on there's a jewelry store across the way..."

"Over my dead body."

"Gods, you're so dramatic, why not?"

"They're cheap knock-offs and they charge at least five times more than they have any right to."

"Oh please, how would you know?"

"Rouge got me to find my own hobby by boring me out of hers," he answered glumly, "So many jewelry stores...

"Just the one?" Amy begged, "I promise! This will be the last and only one! Just five minutes of looking! I won't even buy anything!"

"That's even worse."

Amy clasped his hand gently and her eyes went positively doe-y, "Please? Just five minutes! I promise it'll never happen again! Just this one jewelry store..."

Shadow stared her down, his eyes blank and his mouth twitching, trying not to smile.

"EVERYONE GET ON THE GROUND!"

Screams erupted from throughout the mall. Dozens of humans and mobians alike dove for the ground as six gunmen marched past their store in all black. Shadow and Amy hid behind a low counter and watched as one gunman, a female mobian with moss green fur sticking out of the sweater and mask, stood in front of their store with the gun pointed into the store.

"This is going to be way too much paperwork," Shadow thought as his own dangerous smile bloomed across his face. He was about to lunge forward when Amy pulled him back.

"Stop stop STOP!" she whisper-yelled, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Shadow would have answered but the mobian started shooting again and everyone started screaming again. He looked at her in anger and incredulity, "You want me to sit here and do nothing?!"

"Of course not!" Amy cried, "But we need a plan..."

"I can take them out right here and now," he argued, "Why are you..."

"We don't know what's really going on yet."

"I can teleport to the FIVE gunmen I saw walking past..."

"The five that we see," Amy countered, "We don't know how many there actually are, how armed they are, if they have BOMBS, or why they're actually here in the first place," Amy countered, "If we engage them now, it could turn into a shooting gallery, with other people caught in the cross-hairs. Or worse, a mass grave with rubble over everything.

Shadow's fists clenched. She was right. If it had been a simple robbery, it would be a much smaller team done at a time when there would be FAR less foot traffic; definitely NOT on a weekend in the afternoon. Five people was WAY too big a team for a middling haul from a piddling mall. These idiots wanted something and it wasn't money. He risked a quick look towards the mobian again. The rest of her crew was deeper into the mall but she stood with a cruel smile on her face as she scanned the crowd.

"Shadow, how far can you Chaos control?"

"50 yards without a chaos emerald."

"How many times before you get tired?"

Shadow scoffed, "Plenty."

"Do you have a way to contact Rouge or anyone else from G.U.N?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "We could handle this..."

"It's too big a space and I stand out like a sore thumb. We need someone to be able to sneak around and help us get a better look at who's where."

Shadow paused, then nodded, pulling out his phone and shooting a quick text to Rouge. Once the SOS was sent, he sighed and said, "I don't suppose you're asking me about chaos control for no reason?"

"I want you to scout out a safe place outside for people to gather. Then start getting hostages out of here. I'll cover you in case you get noticed. Once we have back-up I need you to be my liaison. Once I have a map and a better plan I'll get the injured to you so you don't have to search for anyone. I know we'll get made before we get everyone but at least it won't be as much of a blood bath."

Shadow frowned, "You're letting me do all the heavy lifting?"

"I want to keep it quiet, remember?" Amy murmured, her voice barely betraying a sense of disappointment, "I don't exactly look subtle."

Shadow nodded then with a small flash of light he disappeared. When he reappeared he was outside again, where two gunmen, a mobian and a human, stood guard. They were down before they even realized Shadow was there. He immediately frisked the both of them, cursing when he realized the human was rigged with a bomb, albeit a sloppy one.

"I need to give her more credit," he thought, "She's a lot more competent than she looks..."

He stared down at the mobian for a moment. He gave a smug smile when he realized what he had to do next.

* * *

Amy cursed her bad luck. She'd forgotten that Chaos control not only flashed but made a whooshing sound that was impossible to ignore. Not even a minute into the plan and she was already pinned down and useless in the back of a cellphone shop.

"COME OUT YOU COWARD! WHAT'S THE MATTER? YOU DON'T WANNA PLAY WITH ME!?"

"Gods, I hate being right," she thought to herself, "Why can't they just be bank robbers like in the movies?"

Amy frantically ran through the number of options she had. She cursed even harder when she found there was no back door and her only way out would end with a whole lot of holes in her chest, except for maybe one. She started taking deep breaths, it'd been a while since she'd done _that_ but she didn't have many other options left to her. She had one shot at this, otherwise... She trembled but knew there was only one chance of getting out alive. She took one final deep breath and summoned her hammer. She waited until she heard the tell tale clicking of a gun in need of a reload. With a warriors cry, she burst through the door and swung her hammer.

The mobian started laughing maniacally at her, "YOU CHEAP BITCH! I'LL END YOU!"

The girl didn't see that a small dust devil had formed from Amy's hammer until after it hit her. She spun with a series a screeches, just long enough for Amy to give another swing of her hammer into the girls chest. The gunman slammed to a display, shattering the glass and scattering merchandise everywhere. Amy took a moment to let out the breath she'd been holding and give a small chuckle of relief...

...Right up until she heard a series of beeps.

She let out a string of curses and lunged for the other girl. It was coming from her. Without thinking she quickly pulled out her teleporter ring and activated it. It opened to an abandoned Egg-base, the first place she'd thought of. As the beeps started getting faster she hauled the other girl up and tossed her into the ring. The bomb had gone off just as the ring was closing.

She let out a long breath and looked down at her hand, "Shoot... right. I forgot I had this..."

A flash of light caught her attention. She hunkered down behind the counter again just as Shadow appeared before he. She motioned to him to get his attention.

"Did Rouge answer yet?" she asked.

"She's on the way with help," he assured her, "Where's the gunman?"

"She's... gone," Amy stumbled but shook her head. She could deal with _that_ later, "I forgot I had the teleporter ring. If we can get people funneled to small pockets we have a better shot at getting more people out more quickly."

Shadow nodded, "You'll want this, then."

He tossed something at Amy. She fumbled with it before realizing it was a pile of black clothes with a cloth mask. She stared at it in confusion.

"Where'd you get this?"

"I'll tell you when we're done," he smirked, "On an unrelated note the north entrance is safe. Now get changed, you look sloppy."

Amy glared at him as he disappeared into chaos control again. As she glared, though, she couldn't help the small smile crawling on her face.

* * *

Shadow reappeared outside just as Rouge had appeared outside with Omega and a van with an oddly familiar twin tails symbol on it.

His glare intensified when his fears were confirmed.

"Hey faker!" Sonic beamed, "Long time no..."

"What are you doing here?"

"They're here to help," Rouge interjected, "You called for back-up, didn't you?"

"Our men, not them."

"Aw come on, Shads..."

"Don't call me that," he growled, "It's your fault we were here in the first place."

"We?"

Shadow turned and came face to face with Princess Sally Acorn and the rest of her little entourage, from the cyborg rabbit, to the two children, the rotund cat, the walrus and the coyote.

"Amy's inside," he revealed, "Rouge, we have a plan. Get this area set up for..."

"Wait stop!" Sally demanded, "Why is she inside!? She's not able to..."

"She's plenty capable of handling this herself," Shadow interrupted, then turned back to Rouge, "Amy's plan was to use this area for hostage intake. Do you have a wireless communicator for her?"

The walrus stepped forward and shoved a piece of tech in his hands, "Use this. It's connected to the van."

Sally gave a nod, "Right, Rouge, help Tails get some more detailed maps of this place. Cream, stay on the line with Amy and guide her through once Tails gets the intel. Antoine, you, Big and I are on hostage intake. Sonic and Bunnie..."

"Bad guys, got it..."

"They're rigged to blow, you blue idiot!" Shadow barked, "You're staying here until we get communicators online. You will NOT compromise Amy's safety with your theatrics today."

Sonic halted immediately, looking gutted and guilty. The tension in the group intensified, even as a ring materialized in front of them.

"I'm setting up her communication. You will all stay here and out of sight," he growled impatiently, "We'll discuss what to do about all this nonsense once this is all over."

As Shadow jumped through the ring to Amy, he could have sworn he heard Rouge grumble something at the group.

Once Amy was set up with a communicator the rest of the plan went flawlessly. Sonic, Bunnie, Rouge and Omega teamed up to take the other quadrants of the mall. There had been twelve gunmen all told, half of whom were rigged to explode. Omega was able to disable the rest of the bombs, with the promise that he would be able to set them off himself later. Almost an hour after this whole mess had started and it was already over, with twenty-three people injured and five dead, including the gunman Amy had taken out.

Shadow found her trying to blend in with the crowd, away from the rest of her friends. She was trembling and there were tears in her eyes again. He took a deep, long-suffering breath before sitting down next to her.

"I thought you'd be pleased," he murmured, "You did well today."

Amy let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, "Five people died..."

"The casualties were unavoidable," he countered, "They would have been much more considerable if we'd done things my way. You were right to stop me when you did. I hadn't even considered explosives until you pointed out the possibilities. You kept a cool head and shifted gears when new information was available. You even worked well with the Blue Faker."

Amy snorted, "I didn't even see them. I can't believe they came all this way."

"I believe it."

"They were such jerks though," she murmured, "They couldn't have been here for the shooters, why were they..."

"Probably to see why your phone decided to shatter."

Amy laughed but hung her head, "Yea, Tails isn't going to be happy about that."

Shadow followed her line of sight to see her playing with her teleporter ring. She gave a trembling sigh, "You must think I'm so petty for not forgiving them, yet."

"I respect you more for standing up for yourself," he retorted gently, "Too many people lie to themselves to make themselves look or feel better. At least you're honest."

"What if..."

Amy's voice broke. She cleared her throat and tried again, "What if that's why they kept it from me? I... don't want to make you do that to me too."

"That was their decision, not yours," Shadow groused, "And certainly not mine. I promise it won't happen again. With me, at least."

Amy's felt a pleasant warmth spread out from her chest. She felt the trembling stop and another smile perched on her face, "Thank you. You always say the nicest things, you know that?"

Shadow blushed and grumbled, "It's the truth..."

"I know."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment, just taking in the chill early winter air. Amy found herself leaning closer to Shadow as the chill bit through the sweater. They wanted nothing more than for the moment to last forever. Sadly, Amy stood up, squared her shoulders, and headed towards her group of friends. Shadow looked on with both respect and sadness. He'd been sad to let the moment die.

"There's always next time," he told himself as he stood. When he turned he saw Rouge and Omega waving at him to come home.


	3. I'm not Jealous

I'm not Jealous

Rouge the Bat took in the cold winter air as she stepped out of the G.U.N headquarters. She'd just gotten off of a _long_ overnight shift cleaning after other people's messes. Not that anyone could tell just by looking at her; she had a very carefully cultivated "happy-go-lucky" mask that hummed "jingle bells" under her breath for her as she walked aimlessly into the dawn. At 26 years old she was the best damn agent at the G.U.N., and that meant working even over the holidays, like Christmas Eve. Someone needed to look out for those knuckleheads while everyone else was with their families. As Rouge contemplated which route to take home she thought back to her own little work family, Shadow and Omega.

A sharp gust of wind ruffled her heavy pea-coat as a smile grew on her face. She was going to absolutely ace Christmas gifts this year, even with that pink goody-two-shoes muscling her way into their hearts...

Her smile faltered slightly, the wind seeming to blow it away. Not that she was jealous. She couldn't be, even as Shadow started spending more and more time with her. It was... nice to see him have a friend outside of work, especially one so trustworthy. He needed time away from work to blow off steam and just _talk_ to someone who understood things when she wasn't around to help him.

"If only she wasn't just as clueless as he is!" she grumbled under her breath, "I bet she got him a stupid gift for Christmas, like an empty frame or an ornament or something. Then he'd say how stupid the gift was and there goes the friendship!"

Still... as the wind pushed against her back Rouge played around with the idea of interfering more often, just showing up where they were more often just to keep an eye on the dynamics of their relationship. It'd been almost four months at this point and nothing had blown up... yet. If anything it had gotten stronger. _Something_ was going right, even if she didn't quite get it...

"Maybe it's something more..." she thought, her thoughts going as still as the air around her, "For all that Shadow says romance is a waste of time... I don't know how old Shadow is or was before the Ark incident. Maybe he's... going through the changes now..."

The wind started picking up again, mirroring her thoughts to an absurd extent.

 _Speaking of 'not jealous'_

As it picked up to storm strength levels, she gave an exasperated huff and fought to not roll her eyes, "What a terribly cold and blustery day, don't you agree?"

She heard what sounded like a screech of tires next to her but she refused to so much as blink. The wind took a moment to die down but when it did she turned to her left to face a very familiar blue hedgehog by her side. He had his hands behind his head buried into his quills and his face, while slightly guilty looking, had a big smile slapped right on.

"Merry Christmas, Rouge!" he beamed, "You're up early."

"Merry Christmas, Big Blue" Rouge smiled coyly, "Or should I say Mr. Acorn?"

Sonic rolled his eyes but he couldn't help the smile getting wider, "Nah, we're not changing any last names. I'm just Sonic and she's just gonna be my Sal-gal. I'm just the consort, I don't need any of the fancy to-do..."

"She's still your family though," Rouge prodded, "So why are you on the other side of the ocean with little old me on Christmas?"

"Eve," Sonic corrected, "And Sally's doing some paperwork stuff with her dad and Nicole until the party tonight. I figured I had some time so I... wanted to pick your brain a bit... about Shadow."

Rouge's eyes widened slightly but she showed no other signs of her... shock? Surprise? Offense? Offense sounded about right.

"We've had this discussion already," Rouge allowed her voice only a hint of boredom.

"We had a discussion about how Amy was doing," Sonic countered, "Not about Shadow."

"Shouldn't you be asking your little pink friend?"

Sonic's face faltered and his eyes and ears fell slightly.

"Still not speaking with you?"

"She just needs some time away from me for a while," Sonic admitted, "And I get it. I messed that up pretty bad. Look, I'm not saying Shadow's bad or anything I just... can we take a jog or something? Tails is off celebrating with Cream and Vanilla and I've already talked the rest of the gang half to death about what happened."

"Why not talk to Shadow himself?"

"Pretty sure I'd run into Amy if I did," Sonic said sourly, "I think he's the only one who hates me more than she does right now."

Rouge's interest was piqued now. For all that this was a bit, well, entirely stupid... it was still fairly juicy. And she _had_ been sitting down an awful long time... she hadn't taken a nice flight with someone who could keep up in a hot minute...

"Very well, then," Rouge's wings fluttered in anticipation, "I don't suppose you're ready to leave now?"

Sonic's smile returned, "Let's jet!"

* * *

Rouge could feel herself growing more annoyed by the minute.

"What's with boys and wanting to be the silent cool types?" she asked herself, "I always thought Sonic at least had a motor mouth but he hasn't said a word since we started running! Such a rude little cuss. Honestly _he's_ the one who said he needed to talk!"

Sonic seemed as though he were in a completely different place. Rouge could keep up, barely, flying as close to him as she could, ready to pick up any words he may drop. Alas, he said not a word. He wasn't even mumbling to himself. She checked- his mouth never moved the entire time they were flying. They'd flown well past the city a while ago heading east against the sun. She'd mourned the loss of the natural hot springs they'd passed about five minutes previous and now cursed the icy wind that threatened to destroy her flawless skin. Still, her mask refused to show anything less than her signature poker face.

"Almost half an hour of just flying through the mountains and NOTHING!" she screeched in her mind.

Finally, as though Sonic had been reading her mind, he screeched to a halt, nearly causing Rouge to run into him. When he didn't turn to face her, Rouge took the time to take in her surroundings.

Mountains- Several thousand feet high and snow-capped. Trees- evergreen and everywhere. Sounds...

Rouge's ears twitched. Not natural sounds, those where people. Coming from the valley, a few hundred yards away...

She looked into the valley and saw a frozen lake with several distant figures in the middle of it. When Rouge took a closer look she realized those people looked familiar...

"Did you bring me here on purpose?" she asked pointing to the lake.

"Not really," Sonic chuckled, "Just my luck. I have a bad habit of running into people."

She believed him. Amy was among the group of mobians, as well as Shadow. The rabbit and fox children, well, teens now, were snuggled up facing towards them. The only one she couldn't quite place was the rotund purple cat with his back towards them.

Rouge's eyes swung back towards Sonic, watching for any sort of reaction. She wasn't disappointed. It was subtle, but his eyes were attached firmly towards Amy and Shadow, both of whom had fishing poles in their hands and were talking very animatedly at each other. Rouge fought to read their lips but they were too far away.

"They look like they're having fun," she murmured, "I'm shocked Shadow was invited to the party. How rude of them not to invite us..."

Sonic shook his head, "This is Amy's Christmas. I have my own family now. Looks like she's making up her own."

"And you're okay that it doesn't include you?" Rouge asked slyly.

"I'm not jealous," Sonic frowned, "Just... worried."

Sonic began to pace around a nearby tree, looking periodically at Rouge as he did so.

"Finally," Rouge thought, a smirk fighting and loosing the battle with her mask, who only allowed concern to show on her face. She sat on a nearby fallen trunk and waited for Sonic to stop pacing.

He never did, but he began to speak as he did so, "You said Shadow was the one who saw Amy just after she got the news?"

"Saw and handled from what he told me," Rouge answered.

"Immediately after?"

"I assume so," Rouge replied, "He caught her in a rather... compromising situation."

"What'd she do?"

"He wouldn't go into details."

He had, of course but she wasn't about to share that little tidbit until Sonic got to the point. Sonic, for his part, gave a frustrated sigh and paced around the tree faster. Rouge watched this for about ten seconds before she lost patience.

"Why ask me to come if you weren't going to talk, Sonic?"

"I'm just thinking..."

"Think louder, I can't hear you," she retorted, "I'm good, but not _that_ good."

Sonic shook his head, "I don't want it to be true but it's... Look I normally don't doubt things this hard, but I never thought that Amy would be _into_ anyone else like she was with me..."

"How would you know she's 'into' him?" Rouge questioned.

"Come on! They've been hanging out almost every day together. She _loves_ him."

Rouge's eyes narrowed, "Are you sure you're not j..."

"I'm not jealous!" Sonic cried. He was stopped now. Eyes betraying a deep sense of frustration. His ears were pulled back and his mouth set in a strange pout/snarl combination. Rouge's only response was to give a deadpan look that she swore to herself looked _nothing_ like Shadows.

"Look," Sonic started, letting a deep long-suffering sigh loose, "Amy's been my biggest fan for over ten years now. Ten years! The first four years she insisted on us getting married and having kids and stuff someday. And yea, she backed off when I started dating Sally more seriously but... I mean... she even said that she just knew I would come around eventually. She's felt that way about me for a decade... don't you think it's a bit weird that after knowing Shadow for so long that she only chose now to come to the United Federation and get to know him?"

Rouge felt her mask slipping slightly. Her thoughts were starting to stir again with the possibilities. Amy had created a damn meadow in her anger. Shadow was the first person to show her comfort in her time of need... was she latching on? Was he reciprocating because he legitimately liked her? Was she using him? The more romantic and practical parts of her brain started arguing with each other. One saying this was someone overthinking a situation that allowed them to enable the jealous feelings in their heart. The other hissed that it was more than possible, beyond probably and well into likely territory. Sonic had known Amy _far_ longer than she had. It was entirely possible he knew what he was talking about.

"Amy's been there since the beginning," Sonic continued, "She's followed me everywhere. Almost everything she's done since then has been for me. Heck, have you seen her house? It's just all pink, and white with a bunch of ME everywhere. Like dolls and posters and just STUFF! With my face on it! I mean... do you get it? I tried explaining that to Tails and the others and they all just think that I'm jealous or crazy and I 'need to let her grow up'. And I don't mind that she likes Shadow! He's awesome! Almost as cool as I am but... Her and him? _Right after_ she found out about Sal and I? I just... I want to trust it but I just... don't."

Rouge let the silence take over. She needed it. It was a lot of stuff she hadn't even thought to consider. It was bad enough that all Shadow seemed to talk about was Amy. The things they did together, the things they talked about, the inane inside jokes. _INSIDE JOKES!_ It was even worse knowing that he was just naive and ignorant enough not to believe he was falling for her until it was far too late. There was not a single hope on earth that he would question Amy's interest in him. Would he even mind that he was just a coping mechanism? Did she _know_ she was doing it?

Could she stop it?

Suddenly a crack ripped through the air and the lake erupted in a series of screams and gasps. Rouge immediately picked up the most prominent one that made her heart stop.

"HANG ON, SHADOW!"

Her head swiveled towards the lake. The group had separated and Rouge saw there were now two huge holes in the lake, one clean cut, the other jagged and cracked right where Shadow had been sitting.

"He can't swim," she heard herself whisper.

Sonic immediately dashed towards the lake and Rouge was not far behind him. When they arrived Amy had stripped down and had a fishing line wrapped around her waist and wrist.

"AMY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"No time!" she insisted and jumped into the hole.

Rouge heard voices clambering on around her but all she knew what that hole and the line going deeper into it. Could Amy swim well? Even in freezing waters? Would she be able to hold Shadow? Was Shadow panicking? Would he die?! She started shaking as she contemplated Amy's failure, wracking her brain for anyway to save Shadow without killing Amy but the hole was only big enough for one at a time and _what if, what if **what if!?**_

Suddenly the line was pulled twice and the cat began reeling the line in as quickly as he could. The fox held the rabbit as she clasped her hands together. Rouge and Sonic stared intently at the hole as the line bit into the ice harder and harder. Finally the surface began to bubble and a black mass of fur breached and gasped for air. Rouge lunged for Shadow and pulled him up from the water. Amy was right behind him taking her own shaking breath. Sonic and Cream dashed for her at the same time, even as Big gave the final tug that pulled her from the water.

"Everyone OFF the ice!" Tails ordered as he pulled a blanket from a nearby pack. Rouge immediately pulled her own jacket off, ignoring the bite of the harsh winter air as she wrapped it around Shadow. She then lifted him off the ice and flew the both of them towards the shore. She would have gone further but Shadow grabbed her by the arm and squeezed between coughs.

"Amy..."

"She's fine. Let's get you..."

"n-nNO."

"Shadow we..."

"She w.. went aft-t-ter me.." Shadow growled as he shivered through his statement, "I'm-m the ultimate... she's n-not!"

Rouge thought about pulling out her teleporter ring and booking it back to headquarters anyway. Let him be mad at her for not giving into sentimentality in the moment, he needed out of the elements NOW. But as he pulled her away from the shore to get back to the rest of the group who were carrying a now bundle Amy with them, she knew the only way she could stop him was to take him out. To concuss him or worse just to get him to let go temporarily.

"He's already so far gone and he hasn't got a clue," Rouge thought as Shadow was immediately scooped up by a concerned cat and bridal carried right back to her. Once they were settled on solid ground Sonic pulled out his own ring and activated it- revealing the inside of the Acorn Palace. Rouge saw Cream and Big dive in with Amy and Shadow in their respective arms. Sonic and Tails followed behind with Rouge dashing forward without thinking twice.

Less than ten minutes later and Rouge was watching as Amy and Shadow sat bundled together near a roaring fire while Heir Apparent Sally Acorn and her future husband scolded the group for their carelessness. Rouge was much more concerned with the looks that the two hedgehogs passed between them. She could swear on her _entire_ collection of jewels that Amy was making yapping motions towards Shadow, like some middle-schooler listening to her parents reprimanding her about something she couldn't care less about. She bristled as Amy giggled and felt her teeth clench at Shadow's subtle smile.

"Gods, it's even worse than I thought," she grumbled in her mind, "If I don't come up with something soon..."

Her breath stopped as Amy nestled closer to Shadow, her shivering growing a little more intense. Without hesitation Shadow opened his blanket and wrapped her in his own embrace, encasing the both of them and rubbing her arm gently to warm her up. Her heart broke for him in that moment. If Amy hadn't been so infatuated before she got to know Shadow she would have been perfect for him. Now Rouge had to find a way to break them up before they broke each other.

"I never wanted to interfere," she told herself later, "I'm not jealous. Shadow's never been in love with anyone before. He already has separation issues, what if..."

The what if's echoed through her mind, even as the sounds went from disparaging into party noises. Rouge waltzed through the night, her mask securely in place, letting absolutely no one know about the machinations in her head.

"Someone has to look out for those knuckleheads," Rouge told herself.


	4. You Can't Keep Doing This

**"You Can't Keep Doing This"**

Shadow stood at attention with Rouge on his left and Omega on hers. In front of them stood the Commander of the G.U.N, Abraham Towers. He was appraising a file with a red stamped "Confidential" on the front. He'd been doing so for the past five minutes, well after Rouge had summarized the contents. Shadow fought the urge to tap his foot or scoff in impatience; actions most indicative of _that_ Blue Hedgehog.

"Amy may have mostly forgiven him," he thought to himself, "But _some_ of us do not need to emulate everything about him. I'm an adult and I can stand here for as long as the Commander would like to continue wasting my TIME making us stand here doing NOTHING."

Once Christmas was over he'd been tasked with mission after mission. At one point there'd been three of them in one day. They were mostly inane things like tailing an Egg-henchman or searching for Criminal homesteads and bugging them. They'd had some interesting ones, but nothing that required extensive travel or had a greater overall impact. Eggman himself had been unreasonably quiet and so little of the criminal underground had been making any moves as of late either. Everything had been so DAMN quiet and yet they'd been stuck doing busy work for almost a week straight.

That was not an exaggeration. Shadow had not had any sleep or time off since Christmas. He had not the _slightest_ clue about how his green house was doing. His nursery business was still closed from Christmas. He hadn't done any maintenance on his bike in all that time. He hadn't even seen the inside of his room since he left to go ice fishing with...

"Ah... shit," he thought to himself, "I haven't spoken to Amy since then either."

While the drop into freezing waters had been decidedly unpleasant the party afterwards had been... rather nice. Amy, despite the Blue blur's presence, had been gracious ("Mostly," he thought with a mental chuckle as he remembered her mocking gestures). She'd introduced him more formally around, been the conduit to most of the conversations and helped warm him up.

"Literally," he thought fondly, then sadly, "She shouldn't have had to jump in. I'm usually much quicker than that."

As Shadow contemplated learning how to swim, an offer Amy had made once the weather turned warmer, he felt a quick and painful nudge on his left side. Without flinching his eyes moved to meet Rouge's. Annoyed ruby conflicted with a more exasperated aqua. She'd been at the party too. While he would normally not begrudge her presence (hell, he'd even say he normally _enjoyed_ her company), she'd been distant during that party. She'd elected to stay silent and watch the entire time. Even while he was preoccupied with Amy or one of the other guests, he'd felt her eyes on him, calculating, deciphering, making up some new scheme he wasn't sure what. Normally that meant more fun for him in the future. He'd been excited after the party was over to touch bases and see what she had in mind. Instead all she'd said was, "You'll see..."

"Meaning she wants me to be the butt of her joke," he thought tiredly, "Whatever that is. I hope Omega gets a laugh at least..."

"Good work, team," The Commander finally stated, "Operation: Mantis Knight was a resounding success it seems. It will be nice to know that the planted bugs can be used as kill-switches should these vermin get too far out of hand..."

Shadow's ears pulled back and Rouge's face fought a snarl. The Commander simply smiled, "Forgive my choice of words, the Rat-Pack gang has been a thorn in the President's side for far too long. I've fought for jurisdiction on this case for two years. It's good to know the United Federation will be free from their trafficking ring, even if it won't end in arrests."

Shadow's ears reverted back into place and Rouge's smile became much warmer.

"Rouge, you are dismissed," The Commander ordered, "Get some rest, you deserve it. Shadow, Omega, I need a word with you two."

Rouge gave them an exaggerated yawn and waved at them lazily, "Have a good night boys! I'll see you in the morning~!"

Shadow's ears fell- it meant they were in for another overnight mission. He quickly schooled his face back into a blank slate and faced his Commander with squared shoulders. The corner of the Commander's lips twitched but his own mask held as well.

"The Heir Apparent of the Acorn Kingdom and her fiance have been invited to celebrate the New Year in Soleanna. Princess Sally has personally requested that you and Omega be included in her entourage during her stay."

Shadow frowned, "Rouge was excluded?"

"I asked that Rouge be excluded as she has been working without sleep for far longer than most mere mortals should," The Commander assured him.

Shadow's eyes twitched, "Lucky Bat..."

"Sleep is for the weak," Omega quipped, "Let Comrade Rouge sleep, we shall have our own fun!"

"How long will this 'fun' last?" asked Shadow.

"They'll be staying for three days," Towers answered, "I ask that you also keep an eye on them and see if you can't plant your own Mantis knight on them while we're at it..."

Shadow scoffed, "To what end? They've proven themselves trustworthy plenty of times over. They're harmless."

"Harmless is _not_ a word I would use to describe them. They have Sonic the Hedgehog as the future Queen's Consort of the Acorn Kingdom," The Commander countered, "While you're at least a match for him, you can't take on all of his friends on your own. Their security grows stronger with every day and while I believe in King Nigel and Princess Sally... any future generations may have their own ideas on how to make the Kingdom that much stronger. The more assurances I have that anything they have planned we can counter, the better. "

 _"And the Ultimate Life form is totally okay with a political nightmare once Tails and Rotor find out...?"_

"In that case, why not a regular bug?" Shadow offered, "The diplomatic consequences of an offensive mech being discovered could be dire; especially after we were personally invited to a royal party. They may not have the military or trade lout to bring about any real consequences, but they've made extremely powerful allies around the world, including a majority of the Federation. It would be a shame if we were to prove ourselves as untrustworthy as we have been in the past."

Omega and Commander Towers stared in shock. Towers was the first to shake himself out of his stupor, "That's... an astute observation. However, we court a political nightmare regardless of what is planted. We would not be their first suspect if it was capable of legitimate harm. We would be if it was simply a monitoring system. Plant the Mantis. Team Dark will be responsible for monitoring its feed and reporting on the findings every week. Understood?"

Omega and Shadow saluted the Commander, "Yes, sir!"

The Commander nodded, "You are expected to rendezvous with Princess Sally's court at the Soleanna Royal Port in three hours. I suggest you get moving. Dismissed!"

Shadow and Omega left the office. As they headed towards Omega's quarters in the building, said robot swiveled his head to face Shadow.

"Query, Comrade Shadow."

Shadow raised an eyebrow in response.

"Why would you haggle with the bossy meat-bag? We've been told before by Comrade Rouge that missions are non-negotiable."

Shadow frowned, "Because I'm right and he's just being paranoid again. We can do anything they can but even better."

"So you'll defy him?" Omega asked, "If so, I have suggestions on how to make it truly worth it!"

Shadow stopped paying attention as Omega began listing all of the destruction they could wage upon the poor country. His hand found it's way to the small bug-shaped mic as he tossed the question around in his head. Over and over he thought he could simply say no, he wouldn't defy the Commander. As much as he felt Abraham paranoid, he had a point. They needed to be checked in their power every bit as much as the G.U.N did.

Still, he couldn't help but think about a certain pink hedgehog's reaction if he were discovered.

* * *

"We are required to switch out _some_ of the fireworks at least!"

"No, Omega, we are most certainly not," Shadow groaned, "Especially not with legitimate missiles."

"Would it not be appropriate to destroy the other half of the moon? It is an abomination to nature!"

"I said no, Omega."

"But it would be FUNNY!"

Shadow would have answered but he saw a ring appear in front of the harbor. He nudged Omega to shut up and stand at attention. He forced himself not to mess with his own military dress, heavy and uncomfortable as it was.

"At least it's not sweltering," he thought. The black wool clung to him in a way that Rouge had deemed, "Stunning" once. It felt nice at the time but knowing he was stuck in this thing with white _dress pants_ of all things felt almost as ridiculous as the dress shoes that had to replace his rocket shoes for the occasion.

Shadow couldn't help but give a sullen sigh as Sonic and Sally disembarked from the vessel. He knew it meant he would see no action for the next three days. Even if he did, he would not be allowed to participate. No, he'd have to use that time to plant a damn Mantis into their midst like some damn coward in the night. _Then_ he'd have to spy on them and everything they said and did like they were some gang of reprobates.

Shadow shook the guilty thoughts away. Still, he couldn't even find joy in Sonic's quick and graceless descent from the ship, his anxious face, or the ridiculous old-fashioned military get-up he had on. This part of the ceremony wouldn't take to long- all they had to do was debrief and direct everyone to the correct carriages but the Welcoming Ceremony at the Palace? That one would last for _hours_ and he would have to accompany the fool for three days with only one of the Princess' ladies in waiting as company.

"God's I hope it's someone interesting at least," he thought to himself, "I should have at least argued to have Omega at my side at all times. The last thing I want to deal with is some simpering, shallow, unaccomplished waste of..."

"Shadow?"

Shadow was pulled out of his misery spiral by a young pink hedgehog in an oddly intricate green court gown with gold filigree embroidered into it. She held her hands loosely in front of her as though holding a water-lily and as she stepped forward it was with her head held high and an easy smile on her face. It lent her a grace Shadow had never seen in anyone before, much less Amy. He felt his heart stop beating for a moment as green eyes looked on imploringly at him.

"She looks... _amazing"_ he thought with wonder.

"You okay, there, buddy?"

Shadow's head swerved to face Sonic, who's face held a bit of... something unreadable that Shadow couldn't quite understand. Sally beside him gave a small concerned smile and nodded encouragingly at him to address Amy properly this time. He wasn't sure which reaction was worse.

He gave a low growl and fought off the blush in his cheeks, failing miserably, of course, "You all look ridiculous."

Amy's smile only grew more cheeky as she pulled out a small gold fan, "You're just jealous you didn't get to dress up like we did."

She tapped him on the arm with the fan, "Come on, were you raised in a barn? Gimme your arm and we can get this show on the road!"

Shadow glared but conceded. He blatantly ignored the tittering ("Yes, _tittering,"_ he thought to himself with bitter loathing and embarrassment) and gently led Amy to the carriages behind the Princess, Sonic, the cyborg rabbit and her coyote husband, and the rabbit teenager and the twin-tailed fox from Christmas. He could hear Omega's great stomping footsteps behind him to lead the brown lynx away. He helped Amy up into the carriage and fought not to slam the door behind him. He practically threw himself into the seat, making the entire compartment jiggle like a bounce house. He scoffed in response and trained his eyes out the window with his arms crossed.

"You look really good too, by the way."

Shadow refused to look at Amy, but his face softened and his blush intensified, "Hmph."

"Seriously! You'd think the black would just blend everything together but it really suits you!" Amy beamed. She paused for a moment then giggled, "No pun intended!"

Shadow's lips twitched but his eyes were still focused on the window. He refused to break under Amy's stare.

"No one blames you for staring by the way," she said gently, "I don't get to dress up like this a lot. And the designer for these dresses is a prodigy with the needle and thread. She's really fun too! I'm sure she'd design something really cool for you if you asked nicely~"

"Clothing is worthless," he barked, "And I wasn't staring. I was... lost in thought."

"What about?"

Shadow snapped towards Amy, "N... Nothing that concerns you!"

Amy's eyes widened, a hurt look prevailing in them that made Shadow's stomach turn. She raised her hands and murmured, "Alright, geez, don't shoot the messenger. I'm sorry."

His ears folded back. He thought for a moment about apologizing but instead relegated the ride to absolute silence by looking out the window again. It was a shame Amy decided to veto that decision.

"So what have you been doing since Christmas?" she asked, "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Working."

"Missions, the nursery, or both?"

"Missions."

"Anything cool?"

"I'm going to put what is essentially a ticking time bomb in your care so I can spy on you and your friends," he thought to himself with a grimace. Instead he answered softly, "None of your business."

Amy's eyes narrowed but she didn't push, "I wish I'd known you were coming. I would have brought your Christmas present with me."

Shadow's face paled and his heart stopped, "...Return it."

"What?"

"Return whatever you got me... I don't need it."

Amy's eyes watered but her fists clenched and she snarled, "Maybe I will! Grinches don't get gifts!"

Shadow gave a forlorn 'hmphed' in response.

"What the heck is your problem!?" she exploded, "Is it because you're embarrassed? I said it was fine..."

"Just because you say shit is fine, doesn't make it fine," he snapped back.

"But it's totally okay for you to just tell me to go screw myself?"

"I didn't say that!" he stood menacingly. Amy's shoulders squared up, completely unintimidated.

"No, what you said was 'Return the gift, I don't need it!' BEFORE you even opened it! You have so little faith in my gift that you just _know_ you're going to hate it and you want _me_ to get rid of it for you!"

"That's not why I said that!"

"Then why wou-"

Amy's voice broke and she began to cough. Shadow's ears snapped back at attention. He recognized that cough. As Amy hurriedly pulled out a water bottle and chugged half the bottle, he glared at her.

"How long have you been like that?"

"Don't change the subject!" Amy berated, "I wanna know why you're being such a jerk!"

"You need to go home," Shadow argued, "You're sick!"

Amy rolled her eyes, "It's a sore throat. It'll go away. You don't get to be a jerk and then act all concerned about me!"

"You're going to make yourself worse!" he growled, "We're stuck here for three days doing nothing but diplomatic nonsense. Tell them you need to go home!"

"I can handle this just fine, Mr. Ultimate Lifeform," she mocked, "And I'm not leaving until you tell me why you're acting like you have a rose vine up your..."

The carriage came to an abrupt stop. Shadow caught himself before he fell back but Amy lost her balance and rammed into him. He caught her, but the momentum threw off his balance. He landed hard on his seat, causing the carriage to bounce him up and out of his seat. He was flung up and into the ceiling, where his head slammed through the roof and got his head stuck...

Right in front of the welcoming party in front of the Soleanna Palace.

Shadow choked, willing himself not to die in such an awful position on this god-awful day. Instead he felt a sharp pull on his legs and he came crashing down back into the carriage. It shook violently from the force, but he felt himself secure in Amy's arms. He fought the overwhelming urge to simply go to sleep and never wake up by grumbling, "You're way too warm, you need to rest."

"I'm not talking about this now," she grumbled back, "Just follow my lead you dork."

She led him out of the carriage and into the crowd of staring, judgmental eyes. Humans and mobians alike cheered and gossiped about the congregation of foreign royalty before them. Too soon they were in front of Princesses Sally and Elise, who were all having polite conversations together when Amy stepped up with Shadow on her arm. She motioned gingerly for Shadow to follow her into a curtsy with his own bow before she spoke.

"Forgive me, your majesties, but I must humbly ask that you excuse Shadow and I for the duration of the afternoon's festivities until tonight's ball."

Sonic gave a concerned chuckle, "I saw you beef it back there, Shadow, you okay?"

Shadow fought a growl of his own, but Amy beat him to his own answer, "I was the clumsy one, my lord, he's just the one who got hurt because of it. Please forgive my rude interruption of the day's schedule, but I'm afraid we require rest before we reconvene for the evening's ball."

Sonic's eyes fell in a concerned look once more but Sally placed a gentle hand on his before addressing Amy, "That did look like a nasty crash. Would this be any trouble to you, your highness?"

"None, whatsoever," Elise assured her before motioning for an older human woman to come to her, "Agatha will see you both to your suite. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need a doctor to attend to you."

"One please," Shadow insisted.

Amy shot a look his way but mere gave a scary, low giggle, "Yes... please... any doctor you have available would be lovely, thank you."

"I'll send for her," Agatha interjected, "Right this way, please."

* * *

Shadow was shocked at the contained opulence of the room. He stared longingly at the stark but fluffy and deeply inviting bed that taunted him from another room. Once Agatha reassured Amy that the doctor would arrive shortly and with directions to Sally's suite for the ladies, she left them alone in heavy silence. Crimson and tired met too-shiny emerald as they both sighed.

"You can't keep doing this," Amy murmured.

"Me!?" Shadow asked incredulously, "What the hell am _I_ doing that you aren't?"

"Not sleeping," Amy argued, her hands on her hips, "I did say it was bad for you."

"I'm the Ultimate life Form, I don't need sleep," he retorted, "You're the one who's sick."

"It's just a cold," she tried gently, "It'll go away, and the things I have to do here aren't nearly as exhausting as what you've been doing. When was the last time you slept?"

"That's... not the problem here."

"Oh please!" Amy held up her hand and started counting, "Your bags have bags under your eyes, you're picking fights for no reason, you are WAY clumsier than usual, and your reaction times are way off! Shadow, you're sleep deprived!"

"I'm not..."

"When was the last time you slept?" Amy insisted, "Please, Shadow. You're my friend. You're scaring me."

Shadow's heart stopped and his mouth fell open. He let out a soft sigh and placed two fingers over his growing headache. Finally he murmured, "Since three days before Christmas."

Amy's eyes widened, "Shadow, why..."

"I tried again with a coffee plant and it died," Shadow answered, "I got caught up in a string of bullshit at work after the ice fishing incident and I haven't slept since."

"... And you wanted me to return your gift because...?"

"I was caught up with my own bullshit and ...forgot to get you one," he admitted miserably.

Amy paused before she began to laugh. Shadow's ears fell back and his blush came back, "What's so funny?"

Amy shook her head, "I'm just... Shadow! I don't mind that I didn't get a present from you! I got you yours because you've been so nice to me. You don't have to get me anything on top of all that.

She walked him over to a nearby sofa and sat him down, "But it obviously matters to you, so I'll tell you what. I'll save the gift for your birthday or something. Your Christmas gift to me will be to _promise_ me that you'll sleep at least once every three days..."

Shadow opened his mouth to argue but Amy interrupted, "UNLESS you have a huge mission you have to participate in. Whether you like it or not, Shadow, you need rest."

Shadow gave her a pointed look, "Fine. Then your gift to me is to let the doctor look at you. You say I can't keep pushing past my limits, then neither can you. I don't like the sound of your coughing."

Amy rolled her eyes and held out her hand to shake, "Deal. Now go to sleep."

Shadow balked, "Now?!"

"Yes now!" Amy retorted, still holding her hand out, "Ten days without sleep would kill a normal person. After your nap we can stay up until the new years gets rung in. Then it's back to bed to catch up. Deal or no deal?"

Shadow eyed her hand but still argued, "After the doctor takes a look at me. The last thing you want to do is sleep through a concussion..."

"I've seen you barrel through way harder stuff, Shadow," Amy insisted, "You don't have a concussion. We both know that doctor is for me. Go pick a room and go to sleep, Mister."

Shadow glared but couldn't help the admiring smirk on his face. He took a deep breath and shook her hand, "Fine. I'll go."

Amy gave a big grin and lunged for a hug. Shadow flinched but softly folded his arms into a hug as well. He pat her back then got up, pushing Amy off of him. Amy simply smiled in response and waved, "Good night! Don't let the bed bugs bite!"

Shadow stuck his tongue out at her, "I hope your bed is infested with them."

He heard her blow a raspberry before he heard a knock on the main suite door. He largely ignored this and closed the door behind him, listening to Amy describe her symptoms and be checked over. He stayed near the door until the doctor assured Amy that it was the beginning of a cold, if a bit of a nasty one. Once assured, he crawled into bed, thinking about where he was going to hide the white cashmere scarf and gloves he'd gotten Amy for Christmas until her birthday in September...

* * *

 **Back at G.U.N Headquarters**

"Commander, you can't be serious!"

Abraham Towers looked on that the furious white bat in front of him, "I've been dealing with too many arguments from your Unit, Agent Rouge. Were you not the one who demanded he be sent on as many missions as we had available?"

"To keep him _away_ from Amy Rose!" Rouge screeched, "She's turning him into a liability! Why would you stick them together for three full days!?"

"Princess Sally Acorn insisted on Agents Shadow and Omega to join her ranks in the festivities. To what end I don't know, but it's an opportunity that I simply could not ignore."

"He's not going to plant them," Rouge argued, "Last time we had an objective with her involved he went DIRECTLY against orders and purposely failed Mission Treasure Team Tango. He didn't even _know_ her that well then! Now they're good friends, maybe even more and you think he won't go ROGUE?!"

The Commander, rather than answer, swiveled his desk chair around and pointed a remote at the projection screen behind him. In it was clear feed from three separate points. All of which were labeled Mantis Knights I-VI. All of them had clear footage of different members of the Freedom Fighters, in the Princess' suite and in Sonic's personal chambers. Rouge looked on breathlessly at Shadow and Omega's completed mission.

"He planted the pod in her hair after their little argument in the Men's suite," the Commander explained, "He planted a second one after his little nap in the Consort's bed. You can't keep coddling him, Agent Rouge. He understands where his priorities lie. I think you need to take the time to reassess yours."

Rouge gave a small relieved sigh, even though she felt no such relief inside, "Yes sir."

"I'm going to let Shadow have a week of vacation after this," The Commander continued, "I suggest you take that time to talk through whatever's going on between the two of you and report back once all this personal business is over. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Rouge reaffirmed.

The Commander nodded, "You're dismissed."


	5. I'm Going to Take Care of You

**I'm Going to Take Care of You**

Princess Sally Acorn held a hand to Amy's forehead. Amy rolled her eyes in response and grumbled, "I said I was fine. The doc said I was fine. I don't see why I can't go to the ball tonight."

Sally skeptically eyed her, "You already sound worse. You're even shivering..."

Amy was wrapped in a nest of blankets in the main sitting area on one of the fluffiest couches she'd ever sat on in her life. Still, she was determined to prove she was ready to join the others at the New Years Even ball starting in just a few minutes. She shed the blankets to reveal a different green dress from before. It was a deeper forest green with even darker embroidered thorn vines spreading down from the bodice and flaring out over a wide ball gown skirt. She fought and lost the battle to keep from shivering but managed a thumbs up and a smile.

"See?" she insisted in a strained voice, "Just need some make-up and some soup and I'm good to go!"

Bunnie stood off the the side in a lovely lavender off-shoulder gown with gun-metal silver embroidery that accented the open white ruffles in her dress. She traded looks with NICOLE, herself wearing a maroon ball gown with bronze embroidery around the collared neck and hem. NICOLE simply shook her head in response while Bunnie clutched her pearls tightly. She gave Amy a concerned sideways glance, "Sweetheart, you look and sound so much worse and it's only been a few hours..."

"It's just a cough and a sore throat..." Amy argued hoarsely.

"And a fever..." Cream murmured as she smoothed out her burnt copper tea length dress. She idly traced the pattern of embroidered black chaos flying around the hem of her dress as she refused to look Amy in the eye.

"Chest pain, if your labored breathing is anything to go by," NICOLE added in a sympathetic voice, "It sounds distinctly as though there is already a build-up of mucus inside."

"I just took a nap and I woke up like this..." Amy moaned, "I'm stronger than most people, I can handle myself..."

"Which means if you pass it on to someone else, it'll probably be even worse," Sally chastised sorrowfully, "Amy, I'm sorry. I know I promised you could come to the ball and be part of the festivities but... just not this time."

"That's not fair!" Amy yelled, "You promised! You already..."

Amy's voice was cut off with wet and painful sounding coughing. Still, they all knew what she meant. Sally's shoulders slumped and her eyes averted sadly to her navy blue gown. Her eyes seemed to trace the gold filigree in her gown but within moments she stopped and shook her head, "I can arrange a different ball. A different occasion. Just not this one. We need our allies in the United Federation. It doesn't speak well of The Kingdom if you're there sicker than anything on the first day. More importantly it'll make you even worse than you are now."

Amy kept coughing, but refused to say anything. Instead she nestled back into her nest of blankets and whined loathsomely at everyone to just go already. The girls all exchanged looks, fighting to decide if it was worth pleading their case more. Sally shook her head once more and motioned for them to leave. Amy felt her heart break still further when even Cream left her alone in a room that managed to be too hot and cold by turns. She felt the tears prick her eyes and tears started streaming down despite her best efforts. She trembled and let herself curl up into a ball against the couch.

* * *

She was woken up to a sharp series of knocks on the door. Amy groaned as she woke up. She felt her joints crack as she rolled off the couch to answer the door. She dragged the blankets behind her in a cloak to protect from the cold and the person on the other side.

She nearly slammed the door when she saw Shadow the God-damned Hedgehog. He was no longer dressed in his military uniform but in his usual rocket shoes and gloves. The only reason she didn't tell him to go away immediately was because he was carrying a huge mystery basket.

Then he gave a derisive smirk, "You look like Hell."

Amy glared at him and moved to close the door. Shadow held out his hand to stop her from closing it and strode into the room with an uncharacteristic pep in his step.

"Don't do that," he scolded lightly.

"You're going to get sick," Amy warned.

"I'm the Ultimate Life form, I don't get sick," Shadow smirked, "Just relax, I'm going to take care of you."

Amy eyed him skeptically. She was _not_ used to Shadow being matronly, "That doesn't sound very comforting."

"Consider it a thank you for getting me out of that damn party downstairs."

She followed him with a dark but resigned air to the couch. Amy plopped herself down into the corner of the chaise portion of the couch and curled herself back into her nest with a pained groan, "At least you have a choice..."

Shadow raised a brow at this, "You sound as bad as you look. Here..."

He pulled out a wooden box, two tea cups, a fresh lemon and a tiny wooden pot of something Amy didn't know what it was. He opened the wooden box to reveal a bunch of hand tied tea bags in small compartments. The aroma alone had Amy loosening the blankets around her face.

"Don't tell me you make your own tea?" Amy asked forlornly, "You're making me feel lazy in comparison."

"It serves you right for making a fool out of me this morning."

Amy snorted, "That's not my fault! You're the one who lost your mind from not sleeping."

"And now you look like the pot calling the kettle black," Shadow retorted, "Now pick one. I have a mint, oolong, and on the end here I recently managed to grow and dry a white tea."

Amy looked on at the bags at a loss, "I... don't normally drink tea..."

Still she pushed herself away from the corner of the couch and reached for the tea. Amy smelled each one until she landed on the one at the end. The smell had such a delicate and sweet aroma to it that Amy couldn't help but be drawn to it. When she gave it to Shadow she couldn't help but mirror the small, proud smile on his face. He went back into the basket, where a large hot thermos revealed itself. He then pulled out a final large, clear tea pot with a sieved basket inside. Once he had that set up he placed the two tea bags into the pot and poured the water over the them. He put the lemon away and pulled out a spoon and an egg timer.

"You're able to smell at least," he commented as he set the timer and opened the tiny pot, "It's better than a kick in the tail."

Amy's smile faltered, "Small blessings I guess."

Amy's nose twitched at the smell of something heavy and sweet, "Geez, Shadow, you make honey too!?"

Shadow snorted as he scooped out a spoonful, "I have a deal with the Bee community at the University nearby. My flower plots are open to them so long as they trade some of their honey with me."

He handed it to Amy, "Eat."

Amy took the spoon skeptically but obeyed, letting the smooth honey slide down her throat and sooth the soreness a bit. It had a slight, complicated taste to it that she couldn't really place but it brought a smile to her face, "A good trade. There's always a new surprise with you- I always thought you were just an anti-social grump but you have all these things going for you and I'm..."

The egg timer went off and Shadow pulled the bags out of the basket and poured the tea into the cups.

"Don't compare yourself to perfection," Shadow chided with a cheeky smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "You're not going to like how you measure up. Drink."

Amy snorted but obeyed. The smell hit her nose first and when she took a sip it felt as though her very soul was being warmed. Another smile spread across her face and she let the blankets fall from her shoulders.

"This is... just really amazing. It's so subtle and sweet and just... wow, Shadow this is awesome!"

Shadow took a sip himself and gave a self-satisfied grunt, "I'm glad you like it. I'll be sure to keep some aside for you."

Their ears pricked up when a small explosion of drums erupted outside. Amy deflated, the dancing was starting. She looked longingly to the clock on the stand nearby and gave a small groan that made way for a cluster of coughing. Shadow's ears twitched between the window and Amy, who was slowly shoving her way back into her nest. He took in the now wrinkled gown that she was wearing.

He rolled his eyes, "What is it with women and parties, anyway?"

Amy's glare came back in full force, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I got off a call earlier from Rouge telling me she would never forgive me if I went to this party without her," he answered, "Your friends were acting like a gaggle of excited kids about to hit a fair. And here you are moping in a pile of silks and blankets over not being able to go."

"Still sexist."

"Not sexist if it's true..." he retorted in a sing-song voice while sipping his tea.

"Yes it is..." Amy argued in a dark sing-song voice as she scooched towards the edge of the cushion and reached behind her for her hammer.

Shadow gave her a dead-pan look, "Put that thing away. You're not in any position to fight anyone, much less me about it."

Shadow reached into the basket again, "What are your symptoms anyway? The tea and honey can only do so much..."

"I'm totally fine," Amy growled, trying desperately to fight off another coughing fit, "They're the ones over-reacting. They think I'm dying and they're worried I'll take someone with me."

"Acetaminophen then..." he murmured under his breath, "At least until the doctor looks at you again. We'll wait until tomorrow to give you an expectorant..."

Shadow held out a little pill bottle and tossed it Amy's way. Amy scrambled to catch it but it fell to the floor anyway. She swiped it harshly from the floor, her glare daring Shadow to say something. There wasn't even a smile on his face. She got no comfort from that. Instead she focused on trying to open the bottle.

"The doctor said I was fine," she grumbled as she fought with the bottle, "Just because I'm less than perfect doesn't mean I should be locked up like Cinderella."

"Why do you even want to go?" he asked, "It's stuffy noble strangers, loud noises, and cold food. You're not old enough to drink to get through it. So why go?"

"Just because it's a bad time for you doesn't mean it'd be a bad time for me!" Amy groused, "I actually strangers! And maybe I could find my true love down there!"

Shadow scoffed at that, "What, you're okay with marrying a human?"

"Now you're being specist!" Amy cried, "Besides, not everyone down there is a human!"

"Yes, they are. Every single notable noble in the Soleanna Kingdom is a human and the only other mobians down there are a few guards, some servants and your friends!"

"How... why would you even know that?" Amy asked.

"G.U.N agent," Shadow retorted proudly, then pointed at her, "And you still didn't answer my question. Would you be willing to date a human, much less marry one?"

Amy blushed at the question, "I mean... maybe if they were really short...?"

Shadow let out a low cackle (Amy couldn't call it a giggle, not from Shadow, anyway) that grew as her glare intensified. The covers slipped off further from her shoulders and she stood in defiance of the unwilling smile ripped across her face, "Sh... shut up! So I have a preference, that's not that big a deal!"

"And I'm the specist?!" Shadow cackled, "Please, you'd have an awful time down there. What would you even do?"

Amy's smile faultered, "I... you..."

God what the hell had she planned on doing?

As she wracked her brain for an answer, she deflated and her voice went quiet, "I dunno. I would have loved to dance, at least but... I don't really have anyone to dance with. I thought I could have met someone? Just... not be alone...doing nothing."

Amy plopped back down onto the couch and focused on the pill bottles again. Shadow's face fell as Amy struggled to open it, "I mean not ALONE alone... You're here and I like you a lot. I'm glad you're here and I bet dancing with you would have been a lot of fun.. But, everyone else has a boyfriend or a husband or a fiance or just... SOMEONE. I mean, except NICOLE, I guess, but she doesn't want anyone. She's happy on her own and that's great for her. For me, though..."

Finally the pill bottle opened and Amy popped out two pills, "I always thought Sonic would be my someone. That was the big bet for me and... well, I lost. And that's okay. I can see them together without complaining or even feeling bad about it. But now I just... don't have a direction. Like, I know I'm a Freedom Fighter and I love what I do and the people I'm friends with but... I want to get married! I want to have kids with _someone._ I did everything with that goal in mind, with Sonic in mind. I... don't really know what to do with myself, anymore. What's next? Who's next? Is there a next one? I thought maybe if I went down there, I could find out."

Shadow's jaw fell slightly but Amy ignored it, choosing to regard the pills and keep going. She didn't really want to know how pathetic she looked to Shadow until she said her piece, "Then I got sick and I got mad at Sally because, once again, she's right and I'm wrong and I don't have anything to show for it."

She popped the pills one at a time into her mouth and washed it down with the rest of her tea. The covers fell from her shoulders as she stared down at the bottom of her cup, "I know you said that not getting what I wanted wasn't my fault and that it just was. But that's just it- it _is_ and it... it just hurts."

The tears started falling again, but Amy didn't feel that for long. Shadow, in the split second that it took for the first tear to fall, had closed the distance between him and Amy and enveloped her in a hug. Amy's eyes widened in shock and she couldn't help the stream of tears flowing in earnest now. His arms had folded gently but firmly over her shoulders, bringing her to his chest puff. She needed no further invitation. She placed the tea cup to the side and folded her arms around him. She couldn't help the coughing and shaking as she sobbed into his chest. All he did was rub her back and rock her gently in response. Amy wasn't sure how long they stayed that way before her sobbing quieted and all she was left with was shaking and hoarse breathing. Shadow gave one final squeeze before moving to her ear.

"I can't help you marry someone," he murmured, "I don't know the first thing about romantic love. If I'm being honest I have no interest in it. I can't give you any of that and I'm sorry..."

Amy sniffled, "That's not your responsibility."

Shadow sighed, "It's not. I don't like seeing you like this, though."

He gave her a soft pat on the back before gingerly letting go. He strode across the room to a radio clock that sat on the desk by the window. The drums from outside were quickly drowned out by the radio going from channel to channel. As he was doing so, he was tapping his fingers to count the beat of the song before scoffing and changing the channel. Amy frowned in confusion, her ears twitching with each switch of the channel before.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"I can't do shitty food," he grumbled, "And I can't be your boyfriend. But I can at least find some suitable noise and dance a bit."

Amy's eyes widened, "Wait... wha..."

"Just this once," he insisted, "Never again. Once the clock strikes midnight everything goes back to normal and we call it a night. Deal?"

The radio ended up on a channel that started playing an absolutely horrible rendition of Amazing Grace. Still Shadow refused to put his hand down even as his face fell in disgust. Amy couldn't help the fit of giggles and coughing that came up. Shadow clenched his hand into a fist and let it fall. Amy jumped up in response and nearly tackled him in a hug.

"No no no, you can't take that back!" Amy chortled, "Besides, this is still technically a waltz!"

"That's just tempting fate," he argued, although his anger had seemed to subside as Amy placed his hands in the appropriate spots and got them in position.

"Call it a death knell to a shitty year," Amy declared, "Besides, we have a whole hour left before midnight, the song will change in a bit! Okay! So, when you're doing a waltz you have to..."

Shadow rolled his eyes one last time before sweeping Amy away effortlessly into a very practiced waltz. Amy gave a small squeak and stumble but quickly followed into the steps as well. She gave him a playful glare and giggled, "And you know how to waltz. Of course you do..."

"I'm a man of many talents," he smirked.

"Including finding the best dance music..." Amy grinned.

Shadow shot her an affronted look, "I guarantee this is miles better than whatever they're playing down there..."

As if the universe wished to prove him wrong, the song decided to do an especially horrendous and overly complicated bagpipe solo for the chorus. He blushed but as Amy burst into uproarious laughter he couldn't help but follow into. As the solo rose and fell in turns so too did their laughter. Their giggles rose to a crescendo when the woman's voice exploded into the solo going way higher than her range should have permitted. At that point they simply gave up dancing and were fighting to hold the other up through their laughter at the absurdity of such a song coming on the radio. Amy's laughing ranged from coughing to convulsions in turns while Shadow's went from silence to loud guffaws. The song was long over by the time they got themselves under control.

"We are so, so mean," Amy murmured between dying giggles.

"Screw them, they deserve it," Shadow said, trying to get his breathing back in order. He took a deep breath and held out his hand once more. This time a softer piano melody began playing. He counted the beats a moment then shrugged, "It's a four count song but if we wait for a 3/4 count in this day and age we'll run out of time."

Amy nodded in agreement and took his hand. She stood and began following Shadow's much softer lead. They swayed a full minute into the song simply enjoying the change of atmosphere and talent. After a moment Amy flinched then blushed shyly up at her partner.

"Hey... Shadow," she started bashfully, "You know I wasn't coming on to you earlier, right? I wasn't trying to make you boyfriend or anything, just trying to get everything off my chest."

Shadow snorted, "You wish you could have a boyfriend like me."

Amy playfully smacked his shoulder, "I couldn't handle more than two of you smug jerks... EEEK!"

Shadow decided to drop her into a low dip in retaliation. When he pulled her back up he looked her in the eyes and said, "I offered this because I said I would take care of you. There's a chance at other stupid balls and trivial engagements but... we don't always get those chances. Life is..."

His eyes clouded up, lost in some other moment where Amy couldn't follow him. Still her eyes searched his, trying to find some way to help or pull him back. After a time he took another deep breath and shook the moment away, "Life is too unpredictable. It's better to seize the moments you can, while you can. My purpose in life is to help give people that chance at the fleeting moments of happiness life likes to dangle in front of you. If all it takes is some tea and a dance, I don't see why I shouldn't do that for someone like you."

This time he guided her through a gentle twirl. As Amy spun, she couldn't help but feel an oddly familiar warmth in her heart. When she found her way back into Shadow's hands, studied him an a way that made Shadow feel as though she were judging him. He stared back in defiance, while his insides seemed to cook from the warmth spreading in his own chest. Finally Amy gave a small smile.

"Today me, tomorrow, you," she said softly, "I hope I'm as good a friend to you as you are to me."

Shadow's eyes widened and his blush deepened, "I...hmph. You have your uses."

He turned away when Amy's giggle came back, "Shadow, are you actually blushing?"

"I am not!" he said as he grew redder still.

"Yes you are! God's you're redder than a tomato."

"It's just my stripes."

"Don't give me that, it's written all over your face!"

"We're done."

"Oh don't do that! We're only two songs in!"

"The fever's making you delusional, you need more tea."

* * *

 **Well after midnight**

"You're funny Sal," Sonic laughed tiredly, "You said being the consort was gonna be a tough job but I could get used to this."

Sally looked at her fiance with her own far off smile. They made their way through the winding castle with the ease of people who lived there. Oddly enough, it was the first time the two of them had ever been to Soleanna, much less to it's castle. The halls were silent as all of the castle were either in bed or congregated at the New Years ball.

"It helps that you're a natural at it. They won't all be like that though," Sally warned, "I'm surprised the others haven't had enough."

"Yea, that robot Shadow brought with him was hilarious! I'm kinda sad Faker decided to ditch so early," Sonic commented, "I wanted to see him boogie down a bit."

Sally gave Sonic a sly sideways glace, "He had more important things to do, I'm afraid..."

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Geez, what kind of creep..."

Sally shot him a hard look, "We discussed this, love," she chastised under her breath, "I brought those two specifically to invite that."

She pulled his hand into hers softly, an exhausted smile plastered on her face, "The walls have eyes and ears everywhere. The more of those we know about, the better off we'll be."

Sonic shook his head. As much as he loved attention, he hated the fact that people felt the need to spy on his and Sally's private life. He was even more shocked that Sally and NICOLE had cobbled together a solution to it all, "I put three in NICOLE's sim purse. How many did you put in there?"

"I asked her to hold two of them," Sally answered, "They probably thought Bunnie and Antoine would share. Tails and Cream's a bit young for those."

"There were three in mine and both were in the same room," Sonic pointed out, "You don't think we should tell her? Give her a heads up to keep an eye out?"

Sally paused at this but eventually shook her head, "There's no telling when they'd be alone and she's a terrible actress. I'll set NICOLE to find it later."

"And you think I'm still over-reacting about him and Amy?" Sonic grumbled.

Sally heaved a sigh, "I think you're missing the point."

"I mean, did you have to invite him?" Sonic asked, "You saw how he reacted when we sailed in. He's going to expect way to much out of her and it's all just going to end really badly."

"Like us?" she countered with a small smile, "If I remember correctly, there was a time when I slapped you silly in front of everyone for not immediately giving up on all of your adventuring."

"We broke up after that..."

"Then we got back together," she argued with a small laugh, "And now we're stronger than ever. Sonic life is too full of real nonsense to be scared of all the little things..."

"Yea but..."

"They're adults," Sally scolded while patting his hand gently, "And you're being uncharacteristically Mother Hen-ish. If it all goes down in flames, they'll handle it. If they can't, well..."

Sally shrugged, "You're still stronger than them both, right?"

"Shadow, sure..." Sonic joked, "Amy though..."

Sally laughed and gave him a playful shove that he returned in kind. They came up to the women's suite and Sally gently opened the door. What she found on the other side made her eyes go soft and she motioned for Sonic to look but stay quiet. When he did he groaned and rolled his eyes.

"See, it's already starting!" he cried quietly.

"Let them sleep," she ordered under her breath, "Amy's sick and Shadow's been taking care of her for hours."

Sonic gave them a second scathing look that couldn't help but soften at the sight. The two hogs were curled up on the couch together, both sharing in the nest Amy had made. They looked so peaceful, Sonic couldn't help but second-guess himself.

Sally gave him a peck on the cheek, "Give them room to breathe. They might surprise you."

Sonic shook his head, "Maybe your right. We're stuck here for two more days, we might as well get along..."

Sally smiled and placed a hand on his cheek, "Good night, dearest."

Sonic sighed and placed his hand on hers, "G'night Sal-gal. We'll see what happens in the morning..."

With that Sally closed the door behind her and quietly made her way through the suite and into her personal bedroom. Meanwhile, off under the lip of a nearby end table another set of watchful eyes leered at the hogs in their nest.


	6. You Can't Die Please Don't Die!

**Forgive me for having to take a month off. I'm getting married this year on top of completely moving into a new place and getting my career rearranged on top of everything else. It's amazing. It's stressful. I can't and would never change a thing about it. Please forgive me regardless.**

 **"You can't die. Please don't die."**

Shadow made his way through the streets of New Mobotropolis. He stepped quickly and lightly, his slightly furrowed eyes and purposeful frown encouraged no conversation from the mobians around him. Even the picnic basket at his side refused to soften his image. Inside was not much different, though he fought to keep a smile off of his face. The smug feeling he held in his heart when people scrambled to get out of his way threatened to explode onto his features. But like a good soldier, he held it in. These feelings of importance, imperviousness, invincibility, were his greatest pride.

"I need _so_ _mething_ today," he thought with a frustrated growl.

Not that he had much to be angry about, the day was young and nothing had even gone wrong yet. It'd been a few days since the "mission" in Soleanna. Amy was none the wiser about his little bugs and even better- he'd been given a full week of vacation. Meaning, he was not the one watching the feed from her bug.

So technically he wasn't a bad friend.

Still, ever since he started his vacation that feeling... he wasn't sure what it was. Unease? Anticipation? Hyper-awareness? Some ugly amalgamation of emotions were convulsing inside of him. He was close to breaking his promise to Amy again- so soon after making the fool thing.

"Not that she needs to know," he thought to himself, a disgusted snarl twitching against his mask, "She's still sick. The less she has to worry about the sooner she'll be up and about again."

Shadow rounded the final corner, the morning sun glaring against passing windows trying to force him to flinch. He refused, though a small smile flitted briefly over his lips. He was close to his target- a small pink cottage in a cute suburb near the palace. He marched towards the door, stomping deliberately over the stepping stones through the immaculate winter garden and knocked harshly on the offending barrier. He forced himself to wait patiently without so much as a hint of a fidget, even as anticipation demanded he at least tap his foot to release the tension inside. Shadow inwardly scoffed at such a suggestion but folded his arms instead. He refused to acknowledge that he shifted from foot to foot, or even that his heart skipped a beat when he heard shuffling on the other side of the door. All that mattered in the moment was Amy opening the door and shoving her finger to her lips to ask for quiet then quickly motioning for Shadow to come inside. He snorted at her informal dress (a fluffy white robe and equally fluffy pink socks) as she scampered back to the couch in the living room.

Shadow took in the small house- the smell of warm vanilla and cinnamon pervaded it's entirety. A kitchen, no doubt the source of the smell, stood to his right, the living room directly in front of the front door. The corridor to the main bedroom just to the right with a spare bedroom just to the left and a small bathroom right next to it. The pink walls were covered in bare spots where Shadow guessed posters used to hang. Some of them were covered in photos of her and her friends. There were even a few plushes of her or her friends. He practically preened when he realized that there weren't any Sonic ones in sight.

He shook his head and put his focus back to the living room, where tissues covered the coffee table and had overflowed a trashcan next to her.

"How are...?"

Amy shushed him. Shadow's ears flicked towards her and glared. It was only then that he noticed that her eyes were red and dewy. He followed her line of sight and saw that the TV was on. Featured on the screen were two humans pointing guns at each other in the grainiest resolution he'd seen in years.

"Opal, put down the gun..."

"Monty you, you you... absolute Villainous Scoundrel!"

"Darling, please! Be reasonable!"

"Mont-Everling Langston you CHARLATAN! You absolute con-man! You _knew_ where Edgemona was this whole time! You LIED TO ME!"

Shadow's ears twitched between the show and an entirely too captivated Amy, "Did... did she seriously just call him Mont-Everling? What the hell kind of name is Edgemona?"

"A very pretty one!" Amy retorted with a hiss, "And don't worry about Count Mont-Everling- Opalia's finally going to do something about that loser!"

"Please, my love, I only did it to protect you..."

"PROTECT ME!?" she screeched as she shook the gun back and forth, "You promised me I would get to see her again! One last time as long as you could find her. Then I could spend the rest of my miserable life with you. And she was with you the whole damn TIME!"

The gun went off in her hands, setting off a spark near the man's head.

"Please, Opalia! Put that thing down before you hurt yourself..."

"Why do you care if I'm hurt? You kidnapped the love of my life and hid her from me. Then you lied to my face! 'Please darling, I'm doing the best I can!' 'Please, sweetness, I have everything under control!' 'Patience, my TURTLE DOVE, she'll turn up soon ENOUGH!'"

She started shooting again, with far more bullets than a gun of her size should have had. The man refused to shoot, but he was still pointing at her.

Shadow's eye started to twitch, "What the hell are you watching?" he asked in a flabbergasted tone.

"Daunted Daisies!" she hissed, trying to suppress another round of coughing, "I got so bored after the doctor said I needed 'absolute seclusion'. But then this marathon started on tv and I've been binging it since! This is the season four finale! I just wanna finish the episode before we hang out!"

Shadow stared at her in disbelief, "Why?"

Amy gave a squeal, "Oh it's so romantic! I'll tell you all about it over tea once it's over. Just five more minutes."

Shadow fought a groan. Where had he heard, 'just five minutes' before?

Still he sat next to her, his arms crossed as he slouched into the too-soft couch. He petulantly crossed his legs and placed his feet on the coffee table in front of him. He couldn't help his pout when he realized Amy was too engrossed in her stupid show to care. He heaved an inward sigh, his eyes cast down for a moment then resigned himself to the show.

Now the Count had Opalia's wrists in his hands, "I did it to save you! She was leading you down the path of sin, my angel. She's a monster! A demon sent from hell to lead you astray."

Shadow rolled his eyes and started to focus on anything other than the show. When his eyes fell on nothing in particular he thought of all the very real monsters he'd seen in the past. He imagined them slapping that particularly frail and dour looking human against and through several walls. He nestled deeper into the couch. At least it was nice and warm in here.

"You madman she was MINE! And I was a fool to give her up for _you._ "

 _I was a fool to believe you'd have something worth our time. The project ends today._

Shadow couldn't help but think about one monster in particular. He wasn't sure _how or when but Mont-Everling was starting to look an awful lot like..._

 _Shadow was no longer in Amy's house._

 _He felt himself disoriented and hyper-focused all at once. The center of his focus was a tall human, muscular, gaunt, menacing. An older, wizened face snarled at the room around him. His hands clasped tightly behind his back and he seemed to look at everyone but Shadow in the room._

 _Captain Gerard Zacharias Adamson- the right hand of the G.U.N Commander and the one who ultimately shut down Project Shadow._

 _Shadow couldn't see his eyes. He felt them though. He felt the weight of his gaze and and the might of the gun he aimed at Shadow's head. The room exploded with the gunshot and he felt someone shove him aside. He blindly grabbed towards the person who shoved him and shot off towards the door where the man stood. He heard the Professor's roar for him to, "Save HER!"._

 _Gods, it felt as though he were wading through molasses and the calls of the dogs of war behind followed ever closer. He felt there were thousands of them, shooting everyone who got in their way. The screams felt both a million miles away and so close to his ear he kept flicking them out of impulse._

 _Finally he found the room he was looking for. He flew into the room, too slow and too fast all at once, scrambling for buttons with unreadable symbols. He swerved to get Maria into the capsule loading circle when he found himself trapped in the capsule and..._

 _Maria wasn't the one bleeding over the console this time._

 _"Amy..." he whispered, his voice so small and fragile it seemed to shatter as it fell from his mouth. His hands touched the capsule walls in disbelief as Amy clutched the bleeding hole in her chest._

 _"This shouldn't have happened."_

 _"Amy, unlock the capsule."_

 _"They don't know... how could they know," Amy coughed, the worst he'd ever heard in his life._

 _"Amy you need to let me send you off, if you don't, you'll die."_

 _"Maybe... they'll listen to you down there..."_

 _"Amy please, you can't die. Please don't die, Let Me OUT!"_

 _"Shadow... promise me."_

 _Shadow began to pound on the glass. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to break it. Still, Maria's last words poured out of Amy's mouth. No matter how he pleaded and cried, he couldn't get it to stop. He felt her words even as the capsule dropped. Her words seared into his very fur until he was dropped into a dark and metal laboratory, where only the Professor's howling grief seemed to rival his own._

 _"YOU KILLED HER! YOU MONSTER, YOU DISGUSTING WASTE OF... I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! LIFE AND LOVE AND POTENTIAL BEYOND BELIEF AND YOU YOU YOU... YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED IN HER PLACE. HOW COULD YOU THINK YOUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN HERS!?"_

 _Shadow didn't bother to answer. A numbness overtook him, even as the professor threw things at him._ _The screaming surrounded him like a swarm of locusts- flitting and buzzing around him, tearing his very soul into shreds. When he looked up he realized that it was no longer the professor who stood before him, but Sonic._

 _"You promised everyone HAPPINESS! You promised to give them a chance... WHERE THE HELL WAS HER CHANCE!?"_

 _This time Sonic threw something small but heavy his way. It bounced off his chest and fell to the floor- the Mantis Knight he'd planted in Amy's hair._

 _"That's how they found her. Because of your stupid need to control EVERYTHING. Because you're so PERFECT AND PURE you think it's all for the best. IS THIS BETTER FOR YOU!?"_

 _The buzzing got so much louder and Shadow realized that the locusts were all Mantis Knights. He felt himself openly sobbing now, trying to cover his ears and escape the madness that pounded against his very skull. The very same that had taken the Professor. The same that he vaguely wished would simply end him now._

"Shadow?"

 _His heart stopped but his tears didn't. Warmth slowly enveloped his body and he realized the Mantis Knights had been banished. He unfurled his body slightly and realized someone very familiar was holding him now._

" **Maria?** "

"Shadow... are you okay?"

 _Blue eyes looked down imploringly at him. Thin, wispy hair framed her wide but soft smiling face. Pale, but ethereal, her thin arms held Shadow with a strength he never believed she could have._

 _"You_ **died** _..." he finally answered, "You shouldn't have but you did. Now_ **Amy is gone** _too and_ **it's all my** _..."_

 _"_ Shh... no... Shadow, of course it's not." she murmured, almost cooing as she held him tighter, "I'm right here. It's okay. It's all going to be okay. I promise..."

 _"It_ **is**!" _Shadow insisted, "I... I can't_ **make this right** _. I'm the_ **ultimate** _, why can't I_ **make it right**!?"

 _Maria paused, but held him tighter and began rocking him back and forth. She gave a small sigh, "_ I don't think you can, Shadow. But it's okay. All you need to do is be better in the future. You're the ultimate because you don't give up and you keep trying. Not because of how you were born. _"_

 _She raised his head to face him, "_ And if you need help, I'll always be there for you. I promise. _"_

 _Slowly the fog cleared away from Shadow's mind. A complex combination of smells tickled his nose in a way he couldn't quite decipher, just enough for him to feel slowly at ease. His trembling began to settle and his breathing evened out. He felt himself starting to purr. He didn't care. Everything was okay now. He could feel her hand running through his quills as she hummed a song he couldn't quite recall. He smiled into this embrace. How long had it been since he'd had such a good..._

Shadow took a sharp breath in as his eyes flew open. His eyes took a moment to focus back to reality but once they did Shadow learned a few things:

1\. He was still in Amy's house

2\. The t.v. was off

3\. It was now dusk rather than early afternoon.

4\. He was covered in a very soft fleece blanket

5\. There was an amazing smell coming from the kitchen.

His ears twitched towards the kitchen and listened to the soft bustling inside. He took a moment to sniff the air, picking out the savory notes of a vegetable stew. He smiled when he caught the strong tomato base and a not so small hint of rosemary and red wine. Shadow stretched and shook off the fog of his far-too-long afternoon nap. He walked as gracefully as he could manage towards the kitchen. As he peered into the kitchen, he saw Amy chopping mushrooms and piling them into a bowl of miscellaneous vegetables. Amy's ears twitched towards Shadow before she turned with a small smile.

"How you feeling, sleepy-head?"

Amy's voice came out as a bit of a croak. Shadow's eyebrow raised at that but shook his head, "I'm more worried about you. You're still sick."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Oh please, I'm basically back to normal. Besides, the stew's almost done. I just need to add these and let them boil for ten more minutes. Bread just needs to be toasted a bit if you wanna help out with that."

Amy nodded towards the pan filled with potato rolls. Shadow snorted even as he grabbed the sheet pan, "How hospitable you are, making your guests slave away in your own kitchen."

Amy giggled as she smacked him with the pot holder, "Chop chop! I'm terribly ill you know."

"Ha! You're about as convincing as those Wilted Willows."

"Daunted Daisies!" Amy corrected, "And you just don't understand good drama."

"They literally put me to sleep," he countered.

"You just don't know all the little nuances! We should watch the show from the beginning together..."

"I would rather go shopping again."

"Really?"

Shadow gave a deadpan stare, "It's up in the air for things I'd rather die before doing."

"Ugh. You're worse than the Marchioness with your snark," Amy whined, "I'll give you the run-down anyway! So Edgemona was a servant in Opalia's household and they grew up together..."

Shadow's focus began to fade again as something caught his eye. Shadow froze when he realized it was the Mantis Knight eyeing the both of them from a dark corner of the kitchen leading to the back yard. Shadow quickly looked away his fists clenching and unclenching as Amy droned on about old Spagonian nobility. He thought back to his dream. His eyes shifted back and forth, weighing his options before giving a small growl and took a deep breath.

"Shadow, are you...?"

Shadow gathered a bit of chaos energy from the air. There always was a little bit of it around, especially around Sonic's friends. He took another sharp deep breath and covered his mouth from his sneeze. Three bolts of Chaos spears exploded from him one blowing a window out, another through Amy's wall towards her neighbor's house, and the last one the small corner where the Mantis Knight was. Amy screeched at the destruction of Shadow's sneeze.

"SERIOUSLY!?" Amy cried, "You'd rather create a distraction than _listen!?"_

Shadow met her anger unflinchingly, "'Bless you, Shadow'? 'Are you getting sick, Shadow'?"

"You attacked my house and you want me to _COMFORT_ YOU?!"

Shadow glared at her in return, "You're going to blame me for a sneeze?"

"A Chaos Sneeze, yes!"

"Have you ever seen me sneeze?" he challenged, "This is entirely natural for me."

"Says the 'Ultimate Life Form who _insists_ he never gets sick!"

"And I'm not," he retorted, "There's just a bit of a concentration of Chaos energy in here and it surprised me."

It was Amy's turn to give a dead pan look, "Really? It surprised you."

"It... tickled."

Amy frowned, but Shadow knew she was fighting to keep a smile off of her face. Finally she started giggling and Shadow knew he'd won. He gave his own smug smile even as Amy growled, "Ugh, fine. I won't talk about Daunted Daisies anymore. Just help me clean this up..."

Shadow's ears fell as he realized Amy's eyes were downcast. She grabbed for the broom dejectedly and began to sweep up the glass from the broken window. He gave an imperceptible growl before grabbing the broom out of her hands, "I... didn't say you couldn't talk about Daunted Daisies. It was just a sneeze. Don't look too hard into it."

Amy's eyes widened then narrowed in suspicion, "It was just a sneeze?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Yes, now let me clean up and you can finish dinner. And...

Shadow grit his teeth and clenched his hands around the broom, "Tell me more about... Edgemona's stupid half-brother twice removed... whatever the hell that is..."

Amy needed no further invitation as she delved deeper into a fictional family history full of the most ridiculous names Shadow had ever heard in his life. Still, he couldn't help but feel lighter. Even as he snorted and snarked through Amy's explanations, he thrilled in the passion Amy showed for something so ridiculous. As he listened to Amy go on and on, he couldn't help but draw comparisons to another young girl with her own passions.

"You probably would have loved this ridiculous show," he thought sorrowfully, "And I know you would have loved Amy. She's almost nothing like you. She's loud, rambunctious, nosy, and has such a damn temper."

"Still..."

"I'm... sorry I was so rude to you earlier, by the way," Amy demurred between bites of bread, "I didn't realize it would be so boring. I got so caught up and I just _had_ to know what would happen next."

Shadow shook his head, "It's fine. I think it's stupid but tele-novellas are droll to me."

Amy giggled, "Droll. That's such an old-fashioned word! What do you like to watch, then?"

Shadow smiled, "She cares every bit as much as you do though. She loves so deeply and she's so unafraid to show it. I'd watch the whole damn series a million times over to have you two meet."

Shadow ignored the butterflies in his stomach as he explained the nuances of a great mystery. How much he loved anime and certain action flicks in general.

"HOW IS THAT ANY DIFFERENT FROM DAUNTED DAISIES? It's just an animated tele-novella!"

They spent the night arguing and cleaning through the miniature wreckage. Shadow discreetly hid away the carnage of the Mantis and felt the weight of his guilt leave him completely. He left her house that night lighter than air, with another plan to meet in a few days for different excursion to ride bikes together. As he left, he smiled down at the carcass of his Mantis Knight in his hand. As soon as he could manage, he ditched it in the nearest garbage can.

"Rouge won't be pleased," Shadow thought, "I'll be on vacation though. Someone else will have to plant the next one.

He smiled, "And I'll have a ready excuse if I find another one in her house."

He allowed the smile to nestle on his face even as he made his way to a clearing, where he could safely teleport home.


	7. You Did What?

**I'd like to give a special thanks to fellow writer Nothin'Fancy- who beta-read this chapter and made it so much better as a result. Please check out her works as she's an amazing writer.**

 **You Did What?!**

Amy hummed a small ditty to herself as she rode her bike through the city of Westopolis.

"More like Wet-opolis," Amy thought as she rode carefully through the slick streets, "A shame it's been raining for a few days now..."

Even now, while it wasn't pouring, the rain fell in a steady flow from the sky, drenching everything and everyone one. Anyone crazy enough to be outside was either wearing a raincoat or had an umbrella or both. It was the beginning of February and while it was late winter, it was already starting to warm up in the United Federation.

So why was she riding her bike through the slick city roads in this weather?

As Amy hummed a piano song under her breath she couldn't help the smile that blossomed on her face. Yes she was in a plastic poncho but she wore a bright yellow tennis dress with daisies sewn along the hem. Rather than her usual rain boots she decided on bright white sneakers to match her more sporty look. She biked through the cold and wet with a contrary smile on her face, looking like an out-of-season dandelion.

She was finally going to see Shadow today.

It'd been a few weeks since she'd seen last seen him, and while they'd made plans for a 'date' (Amy couldn't help but roll her eyes at this word but, frankly she had no better one for it) to go bike riding together through the countryside. Unfortunately that had been postponed to today, mostly because he was too busy dealing with a problem with his nursery. Even as it rained cats and dogs, she was not going to squander this opportunity. She giggled slightly when she thought back to a phone conversation they'd had almost 2 weeks ago. He'd sounded particularly annoyed, and she could hear the sounds of garden equipment in the background.

"Some sort of pine rot," he'd growled at the time, "Some idiot decided to sneak in a currant bush near my Mobian pines and now they're dying."

"Aww, I'm sorry," she'd said, "Do you want any help?"

"No. I have to babysit these buffoons and they have experience... apparently. I appreciate it but... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? STOP MANHANDLING THAT AND...Ugh, Amy, I have to call you back. We'll try again another time."

"Then he went on that mission to wherever in Yourashia," Amy grumbled, "He still hasn't told me what that was about. I can't believe he had the nerve to tell me that was 'classified'. All I know is, he better not have been the one responsible for the nonsense between the Dragon and Monkey clans. It took days to get them to calm down about that stupid fake relic. What a mess..."

Amy gave a frustrated sigh as she stared off into the distance, where G.U.N Public Interface building stood in all it's imposing glory. She eyed the building with an odd mixture of anticipation and unease. The G.U.N had made its own marks for and against the Freedom Fighters over the years- from trying to steal pieces of the Master emerald ("Twice, Amy murmured under her breath), to Blaze's Sol emeralds, to trying to arrest Sonic for Shadows crimes.

"Not to mention the whole Ark and Black Arms debacles," she thought with a small growl, "How can he keep working for these dingbats, anyway? Everything they touch turns into a complete..."

As if on cue, a car coming up from behind her started honking as it pushed into the bike lane. As she swerved out she growled and swerved back, "Watch where you're going you JERK!"

She kicked out at the car, hoping to just get their attention and keep them in their own lane.

This... didn't happen.

No instead she managed to dent the car, sending it spinning clear to the other side of the road and crash it into an unfortunately placed fire hydrant. Amy froze in abject horror as water spewed from the hydrant and two angry humans clambered out of the twisted metal death trap. She nearly had a heart attack when they flashed their badges- "G.U.N" in great big black letters to match the crumpled heap of black and white on the side of the road. She brought her bike to a screeching halt and made her way to the car with her hands up.

"Hey! Is everyone alri...?"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" one of the agents roared, "YOU FUCKING FURRY! GET YOUR TAILED ASS OVER HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

Blood buzzed through her ears and Amy was enveloped in an aura the likes of which these agents had never seen before. Her eyes took on an evil glint that froze the agents where they stood as she pulled her hammer out from behind her. She stomped her way towards the agents with a low growl on her breath.

"What did you CALL ME!?"

* * *

Amy watched as Shadow reached slowly for his temples, her own exasperation rising with his.

"You did what...?" he asked incredulously.

"I made them take a good long look at my... diplomatic immunity badge."

"On your hammer," he growled, "And you just had to show them with the damn thing."

"It was the safest place for it, really," Amy explained, "My hammer has its own special zone where it can stay safely until I..."

"I don't care about that," Shadow shook his head, "I care about what you did to the G.U.N agents."

"What I did!?" she cried, "You think this is my fault!?"

"What else am I supposed to think? Look at these pictures!"

He flipped over extensive pictures of the damages, "Seriously, Amy, into a fire hydrant!?"

"Are you kidding me?! They hit me first!" Amy screeched, "They tried to run me over. Then they had the gall to arrest me and bring me here for defending myself!?"

She motioned angrily to the room around her- a 10 X 10 concrete box with a large mirror that faced her. Metal handcuffs clinked against her bracelets and caught against the loop in the heavy metal table in front of her. The table rose as Amy pulled on the cuffs- pantomiming her frustrations at Shadow while he looked on entirely unamused.

"You're not supposed to defend yourself against a Guardian Unit of Nations," Shadow argued, "You're not supposed to kick a car when it's about to hit you, either."

"What was I supposed to do?!" Amy asked incredulously, "Just watch them run me over with a big 'OH NO!' look on my face?"

"You're supposed to move the damn bike. I've seen you fight, you can't tell me you weren't quick enough to move out of the way," Shadow retorted, "They were on a mission. If they wanted to they could charge you with obstruction of justice."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Justice? Mission? Ha! Is that what they're calling coffee runs now?"

Shadow rose an eyebrow in disbelief, then shuffled through the papers in the folder in front of him.

Amy watched in smug glee as Shadow froze and his own dark aura encompassed him. His head fell to his hands and he cursed under his breath.

"Why would you know about that?"

"When I was getting checked in one of your lieutenants got very vocal about how it shouldn't so hard to grab some Stella-Does," Amy smiled as she steepled her hands in front of her, "All while I was being unfairly detained for getting hit by a car."

"For hitting a government owned vehicle," Shadow groused through gritted teeth, "That was in the middle of a supply run."

Amy's ears pulled back and her mouth fell open, "You're really on their side? Even though it's their fault?!"

"I'm not on anyone's side until I get to the bottom of this," Shadow growled half-heartedly, "Where's your diplomat badge?"

"I gave it to Agent... whatever his name was. The redhead that called me a furry," she retorted, "Along with my hammer."

"It wasn't entered into evidence. Are you sure it was attached to your hammer?"

Amy glared at Shadow but raised her hand. With a small pop and bit of smoke, her piko-piko hammer appeared. She gracefully swung the hammer until she gave a small growl, "Oh. What do you know. My papers mysteriously disappeared Fancy that."

Shadow glared back at her, "Seriously? Stealing evidence right in front of me?"

Amy slammed the hammer down, crumpling the table like a soda can. Amy's eyes blazed as Shadow scrambled out of the way of the carnage. The handcuffs snapped, ripping her hands free of their confines. She didn't care about any of that. Her rage was squarely focused on Shadow the God-Damned Hedgehog, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? YOU ASKED ME FOR IT."

"I asked for your damn papers, not your hammer!" Shadow yelled, his snarl intensifying as he faced Amy down.

"So I'm just the bad guy here?" Amy cried, "Even though I'm the one who was almost hit by a car and my badge was clearly stolen from me I'm the one getting the third degree.

Amy huffed, and looked away from him, her expression taking on a pained look, "I can understand others treating me this way but you… I thought you were my friend!"

"I'M AT WORK!" he roared, "THIS IS MY JOB. THEY are my top priority. I am trying to help you as best as I can, but you've done NOTHING to support your case. All you've done is act like a child since you got here!"

Tears pricked Amy's eyes but she refused to let them fall, "I want my phone call, I'm done talking to you."

Shadow glared back, but Amy could see some of the fight leaving as his shoulders fell and his ears pulled back, "You... ugh. No one is entitled to a phone call here."

Even as he said that he reached behind him and tossed something small her way. When she caught it she realized it was his personal cell phone. Amy watched with mixed feelings as Shadow picked up her hammer and strode carefully past the wreckage and into the next room. The silence Shadow left her in was deafening and she could feel angry tears welling up in her eyes again. She would have let them fall, but for the muffled shuffling she heard on the other side of the mirror. She'd forgotten there were spectators on the other side. She practically growled at the mirror and turned her attention back to the phone. She only remembered one person's number and she was not looking forward to this call.

She took a deep breath and slowly dialed the number. When she saw it was ringing, she brought the phone up to her mouth and paced around the room. Amy eventually made her way towards the corner furthest away from the door and closer to the mirror. When she heard the line connect she felt herself slide down the wall and into a ball.

"Hey Sally, it's Amy... I need some help..."

* * *

"You awake?"

Amy flinched and immediately regretted everything. Her butt was both crushed and numb from sitting in the same position for so long and her tail especially felt like it was ready to disconnect altogether. Her back unfurled gently with so much protest she could swear they heard the cracking in the hallway. Still she fought against it to stretch out and shoot Shadow the God-Damn Hedgehog a glare.

"Here to interrogate me some more?" she groused, "Going to bring out the thumb screws this time?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "That was a shit-show, not an interrogation. I brought you something to eat."

Suddenly the smell of tomatoes and cheese filled the air and Amy's mouth watered. Her eyes widened with hope as she saw two cardboard boxes in Shadow's hands held low underneath the mirror and close to her face. She hadn't eaten all day and the ride from the outskirts of the city was a long one. She almost reached out for a box when her eyes narrowed, "What's the catch?"

Shadow's eye twitched, "We're friends. It's a peace offering."

"Are we?" Amy's arms folded, "You've got a funny way of showing how friendly you are."

"You're the one who destroyed a table while I was sitting at it." he retorted, "And frankly you have no idea what strings I had to pull to be in the room with you in the first place; much less a second time."

His glare burned into her, and her mouth which had opened in protest at the start of his lecture, shut and she looked away with a scowl. His eyes softened and Amy noticed his gaze fell to her clothes. She looked down and saw that she wasn't looking as peppy as before. Her yellow dress was crumpled and dirty, her shoes scuffed and she could feel in her very pores how tired she probably looked. He sighed, and thrust the cardboard box towards her

"Do you want the pizza or not?"

Amy's face softened at that, "What do you mean by 'strings'? What'd you have to do?"

He rolled his eyes in response, "Will you calm down and eat if I tell you?"

Amy gave the pizza the side eye. A part of her was tempted to say no and make him march back to his evil army.

Yet, as she looked into Shadow's eyes, she realized he was looking at her the same way he did when he asked about why'd she'd decimated a forest. Amy gave a frustrated groan and held out her hand for the pizza. Shadow gently handed her a box and Amy was both pleased and gutted to see it was a pear, arugula and Gorgonzola pizza- her absolute favorite.

"Of course he'd remember something like that," she thought as she nearly choked on her first bite. The guilt and warm buzz from his thoughtfulness was making it hard to swallow the pizza. She felt the bite go down like a piece of lead and she was hard pressed to go for a second bite. Although she hated being treated like a criminal, Shadow was here for her.

She watched as Shadow slyly looked towards the mirror, his ears twitching towards it before he slid down beside her. She felt his warmth so close to her and she shivered in contrast. As she leaned into his side, she realized if the roles were reversed, she'd never bring food to a suspect they were questioning, even one she knew as a friend, let alone go out of her way to bring them their favorite meal. The only one she would even consider that for was Sonic.

"He's so compassionate," she thought forlornly, "And here I am… making him look like a stupid bleeding-heart for helping me out."

She watched as Shadow opened his own box- a simple pepperoni pizza -after wolfing down his first slice he handed Amy a bottle of water. Without glancing up he sipped at his own bottle he gave a satisfied sigh before turning to Amy,

"They found your badge in Turner's desk."

"I knew it!" she hissed, "Who's Turner?"

"The redhead that called you a furry," he smirked, "A new recruit, fresh from one of those upper class military academies. He wasn't happy when I found it."

Amy snorted, "He shouldn't have stolen my badge then! So I'm off the hook?"

"Not until your 24 hours are up," Shadow said plaintively, "You're being officially detained for trashing our interrogation room in front of the higher ups."

"After keeping me locked up for something that wasn't my fault!?"

Shadow gave a low growl and his voice got progressively louder, "You're lucky that's all they're doing. I had to beg like an absolute idiot to the Commander himself, then when that didn't work..."

Shadow stopped, sighed, and lowered his voice, "I had to let his grandson back into my nursery. He's the idiot who brought the currants into the Pine enclosure."

Amy stopped chewing. She met Shadows eyes and gave a hard swallow, "You mean the pine rot was his fault... and you let him back in for me?"

Shadow blushed and returned his attention back to his pizza, "You weren't helping your case. Someone had to."

Amy flinched and felt the tears prickling her eyes again. Her ears fell back towards her head as she whispered, "I'm sorry I said you weren't my friend. You didn't have to do all this for me. I'm just mad that they threw me in here and made you go through all this... nonsense."

Shadow paused, carefully considering his words before continuing slowly, "The G.U.N isn't... perfect. They get terrible information at times and it's full of people with their own best interests at heart. They're idiots, but they're idiots with good intentions. No one should be above the law, not you, your friends, and especially not anyone within our ranks."

Amy allowed the words to soak in for a moment before she gave a sigh, "Speaking of... what happened to Agent Turner?"

"Suffice to say he no longer represents G.U.N."

Amy nearly choked on her water, "You fired him?!"

"I did say no one was above the law," he smirked, "He drove recklessly through the streets and nearly hit a high ranking diplomat and soldier while she was following the laws of the land. Then insulted her and instigated a fight, then hid evidence when he realized he was in the wrong."

His ears perked up as if he remembered something. He pulled a thick and heavy rectangle from inside his gloves. When he handed it to Amy, she realized it was her diplomatic immunity badge. She traced the sigil of the Acorn kingdom for a moment before folding it gently and placing it in her own pocket. She gave her own wistful sigh as she took another slice of pizza. Shadow caught her look and - curiosity getting the better of him - asked, "Did you manage to get a hold of your friends?"

Amy nodded, "Sally's not too happy about it. Not like she has much of a choice but to help me get out."

Shadow snorted, "Why? Afraid of how it'll look with a Freedom Fighter in jail?"

Amy rolled her eyes, "More like a failed princess in jail."

Shadow froze and when Amy turned to look at him she saw a look of total confusion take him over. A part of her wanted to laugh at his expression- she'd never seen him so off-kilter before. Another felt even worse for not sharing this with him. She leveled him with her own blank stare, "Did I... really never tell you why I have diplomatic immunity?"

"I assumed it was because you were one of the original Freedom Fighters."

"I'm not and no," Amy gave a derisive laugh and took another bite of her pizza, "I officially joined after the whole Ark thing. But I've had diplomatic immunity since the Kingdom started gaining more of its territory and reaching out to other countries for support against Eggman. I think that was... three years before that? Like a year after I became a ward of the kingdom."

Shadow's brow furrowed, "You're... a ward of the kingdom? Why would that make you a princess?"

"It doesn't, my parents did though. I'm an orphan," Amy answered, "Well not really. My parents disowned me when I was... seven? A little before I met Sonic, somewhere around there."

Shadow's eyes widened and his fists clenched. He shook his head in disbelief before demanding,

"They did what!?"

"It's… a long story. I... don't like to talk about it," Amy murmured, her eyes downcast as she tried to banish the frenzied sobs of her seven year-old self, "It's way too much to get into now. Maybe another time."

Shadow looked like he was about to argue but paused and decided against it, "When you're ready to tell me your story, I'll tell you mine. We can decide who's is worse then."

Amy tilted her head, "I... don't think you have told me yours. But I know about the accident and..."

"It wasn't an accident," Shadow interrupted, "But we can get into that later…"

The door swung open to reveal a dark woman with wiry black hair bound back in a tight bun. She looked bemused at the two hedgehogs sitting so close in the corner of the floor out of sight from the mirror.

"Agent Shadow," she barked, her sharp dark eyes flashing in annoyance, "I don't remember getting the memo about feeding the prisoners."

"Suspects," Shadow retorted cooly, "And I don't remember asking your opinion, Captain Fondante. What do you want?"

She glared back at him, "The Commander ordered your... girlfriend's release. Ms. Rose is free to go."

Shadow growled, "Then you're dismissed, Captain."

She smirked and with a mocking salute she left the room. Amy groaned as she struggled to get up. Shadow held out his hand and pulled her up when she obliged, "Tch, girlfriend. Just because we're both hedgehogs doesn't mean we have to be together."

Amy snorted as she stretched and posed, "Please, you'd be lucky to have me as a girlfriend."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Yes, because rescuing you from incarceration is exactly what'd I'd like to do with my limited free time."

"But you did..." Amy teased in a sing-song voice, "My hero~"

Shadow growled but Amy was feeling so light from her new found freedom, that she couldn't help but laugh at how red he got, "Next time you can sit in a cell and rot for all I care!"

"I basically did," Amy grumbled as they made their way to the lobby, "There goes our day, huh?"

"Not like we could have had much of a day. Why'd you bring a bicycle?"

"You said 'bring a bike,'" she mocked in a deep voice as she threw up quotation marks with her hands.

"Yes, a bike, as in a motorbike. Not that toy you brought with you. You said you knew how to ride one." he retorted in exasperation, choosing to ignore her little quip.

"No, you asked if I could ride a bike. You never said anything about a motorcycle!" Amy groaned, "And that's NOT a toy! Tails built that one just for me!"

"Please! Any child could ride one of those. It takes a real rider to ride a hog."

"As if! I could ride circles around that thing!"

"Is that a challenge?" he smirked, a delightfully evil grin splayed across his face.

"YOU'RE ON!" Amy cried, "First one up Mount Freedom pays for the next..."

"Ahem."

They both swung towards the coughing and saw a not-so-happy Princess Sally, arms folded and eyebrow raised in askance. The two hedgehogs suddenly remembered where they were. Amy blushed and bashfully kicked imaginary rocks while Shadow crossed his arms and looked away. Sally gave her own sigh and set her hands on her hips, "You two will have to take a rain check on that one. Amy. We're leaving."

Amy gave a nervous giggle before turning to Shadow, "I'll call you when I can..."

Shadow stared back, his own blush bright enough to break from underneath his dark colored muzzle. Rather than say anything he gave a small huff and motioned her away. Amy smiled in response and waved goodbye. She trotted after Sally, her hands folded gently in front of her as they made their way out of the building. Amy looked up and realized that despite how gloomy and dark the clouds looked, the rain had stopped. She smiled, even as Sally led her towards a car with a dark glower pinned to her face. The stern look didn't faze the young hedgehog as Amy could tell that Sally was putting on an act. It was confirmed when they both sat in the car and the atmosphere immediately lightened up.

"I'm glad you're safe," Sally said with the warm smile, "What did you and Shadow talk about?"

"Nothing too revealing, " Amy murmured, her own guilty look taking over her face, "Did... you have to give up anything big?"

"Not as much as I thought I would," Sally murmured, "It actually worked out pretty well in my favor..."

"How?"

Sally paused then shook her head, "Just a simple tech trade. Once they found your badge in someone else's desk, so they didn't have much ground to stand on..."

"Oh... good," Amy murmured, "Thank you for saving me. I'm... glad you have my back."

Sally smiled and patted the younger girl's hand, "You're my friend. I'll always have your back."

* * *

 **Earlier**

Sally sat stoically in front of the Commanders desk, both as still and stately as statues. It wasn't until Commander Towers gave a small sigh that Sally gave her own.

"I'm afraid I can't release Amy to you," he started, "Her crimes are rather... substantial."

"You said the same thing about Sonic's crimes eight years ago." Sally smirked, "Do you recall how that ended?"

"Are you suggesting you and your friends are willing to break her out by force?" the Commander asked incredulously, "That hardly seems diplomatic of you."

Sally waved her hand dismissively, "Nothing so crude. Although if you reference your file on the Prison Island incident you may find that this wouldn't be Amy's first jail break."

"And you're right, my methods tend towards the more... persuasive," she demurred as she reached into her purse with a smirk, "I'm afraid Amy will have to sit and wait a moment. But while I'm here, I do have a question about something more... interesting."

She had to keep a full on grin from breaking out on her face when the Commander saw her pull the Mantis Knight out of her pocket. He froze and Sally watched with glee as he struggled to keep a straight face.

"I found this in my personal quarters in the palace," Sally explained, her voice even with only a hint of malice laced into it,

"When my team managed to break into it and figure out the programming, we realized with horror that it was meant to be not just an monitoring system, but an offensive mech. Can you imagine the demented mind that could come up with something like that?"

The Commander rapidly blinked and his eyes flitted back and forth as though searching for an answer. After a moment his eyes steadied as did his slightly shaking breath. He steepled his hands and replied, "One would normally suspect the Doctor of such things."

"I thought so too," Sally conceded, "But when we followed the path of video stream- and you can imagine my fury when I found it was recording me in real time for Gods know how long- it led us to the strangest of places..."

The look she aimed at the Commander was much harder now. However to her disappointment, Towers didn't even seem to flinch under her gaze. She held it there for a few moments before a derisive laugh escaped his lips, "Is that all you want? You want me to release Ms. Rose in exchange for your… discretion?"

"Quietly, yes. I understand that's a large request. Still I'd hate to think about what the rest of the United Federation will think... Just imagine their reaction to you wrongfully accusing my ward of excessive property damage. And the espionage in a young bride's private quarters. The political nightmare of such a thing..."

"You've made your point, your Highness," Towers hissed as he held up his hand in surrender, "I'll send the order now. Was there anything else you wanted of me?"

Sally regarded the Mantis Knight in her hand before placing her eyes squarely on the Commander once more, "This was the only one I've found. Am I going to find more?"

Towers paused for what Sally deemed the appropriate amount of time before he said, "I'd be shocked if you did."

Sally stared him down before she crushed the one in her hands. She stood from her seat and sprinkled the remnants in the nearby trash can, "Good. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if I find another one"

Towers nodded, "Duly noted. Forgive me for calling this meeting short, I have other matters I need to attend to."

Sally gave tight smile, "Of course, as do I. Although I do hope this doesn't affect our working relationship."

Towers gave his own tight smile, "I would be most disappointed if it did. Thank you for your consideration, your Highness."

Towers stood from his seat and bowed to Sally in farewell. She nodded in response and gracefully glided out the door with her head raised proudly in the air. As she made her way through the halls with her escorts, she couldn't help but wonder if the Commander would try to recall the other four Mantis Knights.

"If he doesn't I'll have four more favors to call into the G.U.N," Sally thought with glee, "So long as Amy can avoid getting arrested again."

As she came upon said pink hedgehog arguing with her black knight in shining armor, Sally allowed a small smile to play on her face before she hid it behind an 'appropriately' angry mask, "I still need to locate her Mantis. NICOLE hasn't been able to detect it yet... Hopefully we find it before she does."

As she watched the two bashfully say goodbye she couldn't help but feel a tug of fear in her heart, "I hope for their sake we do..."


	8. Were you ever Going to Tell Me?

**Another Special Thanks to Nothin' Fancy for being a damn good beta. This chapter wouldn't be nearly as good without her.**

Were You Ever Going to Tell Me?

Rouge tapped her fingers on the desk to a rhythm unknown even to herself. The screen she stared at illuminated the boredom on her face, even as it showed the Freedom Fighters around their conference table.

"No doubt something important," she thought to herself as she rewound the footage for the umpteenth time. Yet even as she heard the Princess go over their mission in Soumerica chasing some rumor about Doctor Eggman, she couldn't help but slip back into her own head. She stewed in her own personal problems.

Or rather problem: the Shamy problem was not getting any better.

Rouge heaved a frustrated sigh as she paused the video and pushed herself away from her desk. The office chair rolled her to the middle of her white, minimally decorated office. She checked her phone and frowned. She still had no new messages from her boys. The last one was from Omega saying they would be late to her place to watch the footage from the remaining Mantis Knights. She jumped up from her chair and strolled out of the room and into the living room of her apartment.

As she sauntered into the living room, she felt herself calm down slightly. Her home couldn't really be considered a mere apartment. Technically it was a penthouse. The vaulted ceilings made her steps echo as she admired the odd glimmers of gold painted into the white walls. When she made it into the living room, the first thing to catch her eye brought a smile to her face- her diamond chandelier. She would always call it that, just for any guests she had over. Every time someone heard that they would always take a closer look and question whether there were really diamonds in there. She would always give a light laugh and a smile in response.

"Wouldn't that be something!"

She threw herself onto the deep purple couch in front of a large mounted t.v. and just stared at the chandelier for a while. Her smile faded as her mind wandered back to her conundrum. Yes, she was rather immature to call it "The Shamy Problem" but really it was a shame it existed in the first place.

She pulled herself upright and faced the almost black, abstractly shaped coffee table in front of her. She leaned over and reached underneath the table, pawing around until she heard a click. Her eyes and ear twitched to her right, where a small drawer was sticking out awkwardly. She pulled it out to reveal a set of folders, one stacked haphazardly on the other. She pushed the first few away to reveal a thick pink one labeled simply as Pinky.

Rouge pulled the folder out delicately with a disgusted scowl on her face. When she had the folder safely on the table, she carefully pushed the drawer back in place and leaned back into the soft purple cushions again. She stared at the folder for a moment before she brought it to her. When she pulled the cover open it revealed a set of pictures of one Amy Fucking Rose taken with the Mantis Knights with notes scribbled out on stapled pieces of notepad paper.

Her ears twitched, taking in her environment as she flipped through pictures and detailed observations of the girl's behaviors. She knew what this looked like and what Shadow would say if he knew she had a dossier on his friend. Not that this was against the grain of her normal activities- she had a dossier on everyone. She even had a separate dossier on Amy from before she'd become such a damn problem. But an extra folder dedicated to Amy's faults as a person and why she and Shadow were so ill-suited and fated made it look particularly... obsessive.

Rouge couldn't help but snort at the thought. She had no interest in Shadow as far as that was concerned. He was a handsome fellow, she supposed, but he wasn't nearly as much fun as a particularly flustered red Echidna she knew... But she still loved him. He was her partner in crime and, frankly, the Shamy Problem was starting to stick in her craw. It was beyond time to do something more concrete about it.

Rouge's plan to use the Commander and the G.U.N to keep them apart hadn't worked as well as she'd hoped. True she'd kept them apart… for about a week. Then the New Year's Festival in Soleanna happened and they were forced together again. Even worse, it'd done the opposite of her intention. She'd hoped simply keeping Shadow away from Amy would help him lose his feelings for her. Instead the Princess just had to intervene and the Commander played right into her hands. Then when she directly intervened and told Shadow to not go to the party, the little brat ended up with a cold and he nursed her back to health.

Rouge clenched the folder in her hands and took a deep breath. She'd had to watch from the Mantis Knight while they danced around Amy's suite like two teenagers at prom. She'd tried to call him to get his attention back to the party, and the damn mission, but his phone had been off.

At that point she had to take a step back and reconsider her options. It was clear just intervening indiscriminately would do her no good. So she watched over their progress relentlessly. Even as she spoke to her friends about what a generous friend Shadow was. How compassionate. How sensitive and polite and reliable. The only redeemable moment was when Shadow had cried out in his sleep. Amy had run to him then, almost cooing at him and even petting him. To add insult to injury, not only did it work, but she never said a word to him about his night terror.

"I never knew Shadow talked in his sleep," she thought to herself. She regarded the file with disdain, as one would an unruly child that didn't belong to them, "She did comfort him, I'll give her that. Only a heartless cretin wouldn't want to help him while he's crying out in his sleep. That doesn't absolve her of her temper problem."

She lifted the photo of him in her lap, resisting the urge to throw it across the room, and paused to glance at the picture revealed underneath. It was from Amy's brief arrest, and showed an enraged pink hedgehog smashing a solid metal table to smithereens. Omega had to hold her back when Amy pulled that shit. The only comfort she had drawn in that moment was relief that Shamy was surely finished She had honestly believed - knowing Shadow's aversion to immature bullshit - that he would see her for what she truly was.

"But then they just... made up while I wasn't looking," she thought angrily, "She tried to hit him for no reason and he just forgave her!"

Rouge tossed the file against the table and threw herself back into the couch with a growl. She stared into the chandelier above her once more, searching for answers in its facets. The more she saw of the couple the more issues with their relationship were revealed. Amy destroyed private Federal property just because she was angry with her celebrity crush's marriage and Shadow had quietly cleaned up after her. Amy caused the death of a woman during a mall hostage situation and Shadow told her it wasn't her fault.

To top it all off, Amy was flirting with Shadow even though she was interested in someone else. Rouge could only assume it was to feed her broken ego, but Shadow was taking it seriously. Amy embarrassed Shadow in public and Shadow blamed himself. She whined and cried to get his attention and make him feel sorry for her and Shadow danced for her like a monkey.

Her heart froze when she remembered one thing in particular Shadow had said off-handedly. When she questioned Shadow about the destroyed Mantis (and you better believe she had a few things to say about it) he insisted it was an accident. Then he had the gall to say, "You and Amy need to stop screaming about a damn sneeze. It was just an accident."

When she'd tried to draw more out of him he simply refused to elaborate, saying it was, "None of your business."

The more she saw the more she worried. Would he ever tell her if it got worse? Would he tell her if Amy started hitting him? Stealing from him? Breaking him down on an emotional or mental level? How could she save him if he let it go on for too long? Would he even realize anything was wrong in the first place?

"So how do I break them up?" she asked herself under her breath.

The question reverberated against the walls and in her mind along with it's answer, "Make him understand she's a problem."

She took several deep breaths then went back to the folder. Rouge grumbled under her breath as she gathered the scattered papers. The solution was easier said than done. Her being a Sonic fan-girl hadn't run him off. Her violence hadn't turned him off. Being a dishonored princess and ward of the Acorn Kingdom hadn't been enough either. The thought made her pause, Rouge couldn't help but wonder if that whole 'Princess' thing Amy mentioned might be the spark needed to light a fire of doubt..

Rouge hadn't done much research on Amy's almost random claim of royalty. It'd only been a week since that particular gem fell into her lap. She'd tried searching public records for the pink menace's surname but, that'd brought up nothing. She didn't think anything would, she'd never heard of the royal "Rose" family but it was always good to check. Next she'd checked out Amy's timeline and that alone she'd been able to eliminate a wide array of possible countries and eliminated even more based on Amy's species. Barring Sonic there was only one predominantly Hedgehog royal family in the world- the Underground Kingdom ruled by Queen Aleena and her two intensely musical children.

Rouge couldn't help but smile at that. She knew Queen Aleena would never disown a child of hers without good reason. Everything she did was framed around "What about the children?" especially her own. The thought that Amy was either lying about being royal, being disowned, or the reason behind being disowned was so delectably scandalous it would immediately destroy any affection her ebony partner may have for the 'princess.' Not to mention Amy's birth was well before Eggman's takeover- meaning the pregnancy and her subsequent birth should have been plastered all over the Underground Kingdom's newspapers. Her smile grew darker, she couldn't decide which truth would be more delicious to reveal.

"And don't think I didn't notice she said 'parents', either," she purred, "Queen Aleena was famously single after her husband tried to sell out their country to the Doctor. The decision to disown her would have been the Queen's alone."

Still, she had to wait until she could get all of the information. She couldn't afford to slip this up- if she did it would ruin her relationship with Shadow. He'd never feel comfortable enough to come to her when things inevitably blew up in his face.

"Not to mention working with him would be insanely uncomfortable..." Rouge mused as she turned to a new page. It was a simple map of the world with cross hatches over the countries she felt weren't Amy's country of origin. Her aqua eyes were fixed on one country in particular that she'd forgotten to cross off the page. A rather large island to the northwest of Soleanna...

Suddenly she saw a flash of light and Rouge had to scramble to close the folder and hide it under a couch cushion. She kicked herself mentally for hiding it in such an obvious spot but she had to focus on shooting her boys an admonishing look.

"Haven't you two ever heard of knocking?" she chided, "Or maybe calling ahead?"

Shadow crossed his arms and huffed while Omega stared at her unabashedly, "Were you not the one who stated it was quote, 'Rude to keep a lady waiting?'"

"I did, and you two still kept me waiting!" she cried as she dramatically draped herself back over the couch making sure the file was covered completely by her body.

"I sat here worried for hours wondering where my boys were! Then you barge right in on me! What if I had been indecent?"

"You're always indecent," Shadow retorted with a smirk, "And quit being dramatic, I texted you before we came. We brought snacks."

Rouge's ears perked up when she heard the crinkle of plastic in Shadow's hands. She stared at the large bags before she sighed, a smug smile playing on her face, "I must have left my phone in my office. You two are forgiven just this once- but only because I don't want to watch this alone anymore."

Shadow snorted, "Why? Too scary for you to do it alone?"

"I'll die of boredom if I try again," Rouge whined as she strolled back to her office, "Is that what you two want?"

"Negative," Omega responded, "I wish you to die a more glorious death."

"Then saddle up on the couch and get ready to take some notes, boys! I'll be back with the footage and we can get this party started!"

* * *

"These robots are inferior models," Omega stated from his position on the floor.

"Why's that, big guy?" Rouge asked politely as she lounged gracefully against the arm of the chair. She reached towards the coffee table for chips, careful not to crinkle the folder beneath her too loudly for her boys to hear.

"When the Mantis Knights move to follow their targets, the footage quality becomes... questionable," Omega explained, "It looks as though the footage lags. All of them collectively lag at the same time. Therefore they are garbage."

"Hmph, they can't all be like you," Shadow smirked from his perch on the arm of the couch, "Snively's not that smart."

Rouge squinted at the t.v. screen, "Mmm... he's right though. None of the bugs I've seen do that..."

Shadow rolled his eyes as he reached for his can of soda, "They're also conveying information from the other side of the world. The ones we deployed earlier are still in the United Federation borders. They're fine. Let's focus on how the hell they found out about Operation Jungle Supervisor..."

Omega swiveled his head towards Shadow, "Why not ask your lover?"

Shadow did a massive spit take that sprayed against the t.v. and over the black hardwood floor. Rouge started cackling madly, "OMEGA! Why would you say that!?" she shrieked, tears in her eyes from laughter.

"...Is this inaccurate?" Omega asked hesitantly, "The rest of the G.U.N seem to think this to be otherwise."

"It is inaccurate," Shadow growled through his coughing, "And you will never call Amy that again. That's disgusting."

"Whatever you wish to call it, you cannot expostulate that you and she are close," Omega argued, "And she would know about the mission briefing. Therefore- your friend of the female variety is most useful to our cause."

"I'm not going to ask Amy to spy on her own team," Shadow retorted, "She doesn't ask me about my business and I don't ask about hers. It's bad enough that we're doing this in the first place. Drawing her attention to something like this is the last thing we want."

"No one would have to ask if you hadn't destroyed the Knight model with your squishy maladroit meat-bag fumbling!" Omega quarreled as he pointed a finger at Shadow.

Rouge's smile fell from her face.

"That was an accident," Shadow groused as he pointed right back at Omega, "Besides, it was shitty of the Commander to ask us to spy on her like some sort of pervert. It's even shittier that you would accuse me of such base emotions."

"We're not accusing you of anything, RIGHT Omega?" Rouge asked with gritted teeth.

"I accuse him of everything!" Omega avowed, "You have let your feelings for the yelling pink one get in the way of real fun."

"What feelings?!" Shadow ground out, "There's nothing there! Just because I respect her does not mean that I want... that out of her."

"Yet you have no qualms about spying on the other pathetic Freedom Fighter Models. When it comes to the pink one you have a mental malfunction over…"

"ENOUGH!" Rouge cried.

Both boys stared back at Rouge as she stood with her fists and teeth clenched. Her ears were pulled back and her blue eyes held a cold fury in them.

Inside, however, she was more pleased than the cat that caught the canary. This situation was the perfect set up to put the Shamy problem to rest. She could never get Shadow to see her side of things on her own but with Omega agreeing with her…

"Omega- we can't ask her about the mission because then she would wonder how we know about their intel." Rouge started. Her heart thrilled as she saw a smug smile ease onto his face.

"She'll think it odd and bring it up to Princess Sally.. The Princess already found one of the Knights. If she finds another because we tipped our hand, the Commander will never let us forget it. Or do I need to remind you of what he said when she found the first one?"

The group collectively shivered as they remembered the dressing down they'd gotten from Commander Towers. His mismatched eyes had bulged in rage and his human face had gone blotchy red like the tomatoes in Shadow's garden. It would have been funny if it weren't for the threats of discipline should another Mantis Knight be found.

"That... sounds unappealing," Omega conceded, "We won't discuss this with the pink one."

"I agree. Amy shouldn't know about the Mantis Knights, period," Shadow grumbled, "I... don't think the Princess has talked to her about them yet. All for the best, I think."

"Best for you," Rouge interjected quickly, finding her opening, "Shadow, whether you like it or not, Omega has a point. You're letting Amy get in the way of doing your job."

Shadow shook his head in disbelief, "Since when? I planted the damn things, I've been doing the missions without complaint, what the hell else do you want from me?"

"We want you to trust us!" Rouge declared, "You keep telling us you didn't destroy the Mantis Knight on purpose but we both know you're not that clumsy!"

Shadow opened his mouth to argue but Rouge held up her hand, "I'm not going to fight you on this. We know you've had your problems with the bugs and we've only lost two of the six we planted. That's not the problem right now. We just want you to keep us informed of what the hell is going on. That's all we're asking for!"

"What are you..? I haven't hidden anything from you!" Shadow growled, his snarl revealing dangerously sharp and gritted teeth.

"Were you ever going to tell us about your little banished princess?" Rouge countered, her eyes sharp and finger pointing.

Shadow froze and his face fell, changing from pissed to wary. His ears flicked back and forth between Omega and Rouge as he murmured darkly, "You two were spying on us?"

"Shadow, you were in an interrogation room! You two were being recorded the whole time!" Rouge cried, "You're lucky anyone was watching at all! She could have killed you with that damn hammer."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "She would never..."

"How do you know?" Rouge asked, "She was angry enough to destroy the table you were sitting at!"

"She was tired, hungry, and upset," Shadow retorted.

"Oh right, she couldn't 'control' herself. Gods forbid a fully grown adult be in control of their emotions enough not to hurt the people they claim to care about."

"She had diplomatic immunity, and she was being treated like a criminal."

"Just because she had a 'Get out of Jail Free' card doesn't mean what she did wasn't illegal!"

"So that idiot Turner was in the right for stealing her diplomatic immunity badge?"

"Of course not!" Rouge agreed, "But the moment she didn't get what she wanted she threw a tantrum. Doesn't that sound a little familiar to you? Like a dozen exploded trees, familiar? Like a casualty heavy day at the mall familiar? Or maybe a twisted car and a broken fire hydrant familiar?"

"She couldn't hurt me if she tried!" Shadow held, his arms crossed and his red eyes narrowed.

"I don't care if she can or not! I care about the fact that she tried to!"

The room plunged into silence. Shadow looked like a cornered animal, Rouge had her arms crossed and a vindicated look on her face, while Omega stared blankly between the two. Rouge allowed the silence to wash over her for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"Shadow, I love you. You're like a brother to me. You know I would back you up you even if the entire world was against you. I will lie and cheat and kill whoever I need to for you - both of you," she added as she nodded to Omega, "So I need you to hear me when I say this- you need to get your little crush on Amy under control. She could be using you."

"For the last time, I don't have a..."

"Yes you do," Rouge argued as she held up her fingers one by one, "The things you do for her aren't normal between friends!. You dance for her. You comfort her and care for her when she's sick…"

"Those are completely normal things to do for a friend!" Shadow barked, but Rouge continued unabated with her ruthless listing.

"You begged like a child in a toy store to be the one to interrogate her when she was the one who messed up. You can put on as much of an act as you like, everyone in that room knew you wanted her free…"

"She didn't…"

"You even let Jessey Freaking Towers back into your nursery after the mess he made of it the first time. I haven't seen you so much as raise your voice at him since. Even after sacrificing all of that and then some, you didn't stop there. When you couldn't give her what she wanted you gave her the next best thing, against direct protocol," Rouge's hands fell in frustration,

"Shadow, this isn't even the first time you've done that. Even when you barely knew her, you set aside everything that mattered to you for her. Destroying the world, protecting the Sol Emeralds, keeping those Freedom Fighters in check. Shadow…"

Rouge gently placed both her hands on his shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. Wide and frantic ruby met cold and irrepressible aqua, "I know you. You would never do any of that for anyone else. You want her."

Shadow blushed the deepest shade of red she'd seen on a male since the first time she propositioned Knuckles for particularly explicit adult activity. He shook his head, "It's... she's just my friend. Friends do those things for each other all the time..."

"They do," Rouge conceded, "But...not all the time. Shadow... we all know that's not what's going on here."

"I can't feel that way for her."

"Why not?"

Shadow eyes widened and he froze again. He grew pale and began to shake. As much as Rouge hated to see it but resigned herself to the idea that it was for the best. She could practically hear the mad scramble of thoughts in his head as he weighed out his own emotions versus what was convenient for the two. She eyed the couch and began to wonder if maybe showing Shadow the folder would actually help her case at this point.

"Shadow... I don't want to say never see her again," she murmured as she gave his shoulders a gentle squeeze, "Just... keep her at arms length for a while. I... don't know if she's telling the truth about this whole... banished princess thing. She could be trying to take advantage of you..."

That snapped Shadow out of his train of thought, "She's not lying about that."

"Have you investigated?" Omega interjected.

"Of course not! I..." Shadow's eyes faded out for a moment before he stumbled backward, "...I respect her too much to dig into something she doesn't want me to."

"You should," Rouge argued, "I don't know why she would lie about something like that but maybe she thinks she can manipulate you into..."

"AMY WOULDN'T DO THAT!" Shadow roared as he swung his hand out. From his hand a chaos spear shot out and exploded the couch next to them. Rouge dashed out of the way of the flying wreckage while Omega refused to move taking on the full brunt of the explosion stoically. When the dust settled, all three of them stared at each other over the carnage of Rouge's living room.

Shadow was the first to recover with a deep, shaking breath, "I...have to go."

Before he could teleport away, Rouge lunged for him and grasped his shoulders to stop him, "Don't you dare run from this! This is why we have a problem here. We're your friends, not her. Just talk to us! What are you thinking? We can help you…"

Shadow stopped, a moment more, his eyes darting back and forth again. Rouge could practically see his mind analyzing the last few months over and over again. When his eyes finally settled he took a deep breath, his expression now calm and determined.

"Amy is... she's not like us. She doesn't see the world as a series of ladders and pitfalls. She doesn't weigh a person's worth on how useful they are. She is completely and unabashedly herself…

"Yes she has a temper. She's young, but... she knows herself. And she knows her faults. She knows she can be violent, so she went to blow off steam and I ran into her. She's not some out of control monster, she just… feels very deeply about everything. She doesn't…"

He had to pause again. Rouge thought to loosen her grip on him, but when she did, he seemed even more unsettled than before, as though letting him go would make him fall further into trouble. Even as he shook, he persisted.

"I protected her. She needed my help, but she protected me before too, and at the risk of her life," he argued, his voice thick with emotion.

His eyes grew soft a moment and Rouge watched as his hope both bloomed and died in the same moment. His eyes grew misty then he shook his head as if in disgust. The following silence was deafening to Rouge and she had to fight to keep her eyes from watering too. She finally let go of Shadow as he turned away from them.

"I don't want to know about Amy's past. She'll tell me when she's ready. Keep your opinions on her to yourself," Shadow ordered, "And don't say you haven't looked into the whole Princess thing. I know you Rouge..."

Shadow shot her a soft but knowing look that froze her in place. She was suddenly very glad the couch was on fire along with her folder of dirt on Amy Fucking Rose.

"You don't wish to know if it's real?" Omega queried.

"I don't care," Shadow murmured, "I have to go."

Rouge flinched at the flash of light and the whoosh of Shadow's Chaos Control. When she opened her eyes, her heart sank as she gazed upon the empty spot were he'd been just a moment ago.

Omega's head swiveled towards her, "What now?"

Rouge's hand found its way to her mouth. She looked up at the chandelier again, searching ever harder for an answer to his question. Instead she found nothing but empty and heartless reflections of herself and the room around her. What the hell had she expected? She had gone against her instinct, carried on the wings of Omega's opinions, and showed all her cards before they'd been fully researched. Now she feared that she'd set Shadow on an even worse path than he was on before.

As the silence grew unbearable she finally decided to answer with the truth, "I… I'm not sure, big guy. We'll just have to wait and see."


	9. Don't Ask Me That

**I apologize for taking so long with this- had to be done- was a hard chapter to write. Thanks once again to beta Nothin' Fancy for all the help.**

 **Don't Ask Me That**

Twilight had been taken over by dusk in the Mystic Ruins. Despite the clear skies, the air had an particular humid feel to it that said the rainy season wasn't even close to over yet. The young, short jungle trees swayed to a gentle breeze that danced over the earthy mountains they called their home.

Here Amy sat as she took in the scenery with a tiny smile on her face, her eyes dewy and her fists clenched as she stared out into the horizon. She sat against the base of a tall cliffside that shielded the valley of trees from the rest of the Mystic Ruins. The breeze played with the edge of her sundress- a new one Honey had designed just for her. A beautiful red wine color with pink and white flowers embroidered up from the hem and around to the cinched waist. The thick straps were heavily embroidered with the pink and white flowers as well, squaring off into a lower back compared to the front- giving her full access to the cool air that played with her dress and quills.

"I should have known that she didn't design this dress for free," she thought wryly, "Honey's a business woman, she never gives away anything without getting something in return."

Her eyes fought to look down into her hands wishing to ignore the reality they held in tight fists. She was determined to keep her eyes up and watch as the stars started to twinkle in the night sky. When she felt her resolve start to waver, she forced herself to close her eyes rather than look at the heavy card that bent awkwardly in her tight grip. She'd contemplated tossing it but mustering the gumption to litter, especially here seemed even worse than simply willing it away.

A reluctant smile wormed its way onto her face as she remembered planting all the new trees with Shadow that day. It'd been a few months, but she still remembered how gentle and dedicated he'd been with each of them. That thought brought forth an image of a dark hedgehog motioning angrily at the stumps of hammered tree around them. How gruff and to the point he'd been; yet how much fun it was to just get her hands dirty and build something- something that could stand for hundreds of years after they were both gone- or at least so Shadow had said. To see that level of passion and dedication in someone was just… inspiring! How could she even think to sully such a special place like that?

"Kinda wish Shadow was here," she murmured to herself, "He'd probably just burn this in his hands and call it a day."

Jealousy squeezed her chest and made her look at her now loosely folded hands. The card she held was crumpled, gold and green with blue curling accents around it. Much as she wanted not to, Amy found herself reading it in spite of herself.

"His Royal Majesty King Nigel Acorn requests the pleasure of the company of

Princess Amy Rose

At the Joyous Marriage of his daughter

Her Royal Highness Princess Sally Acorn, Heir Apparent to the Acorn Kingdom

to

Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog

At the Royal Oak Palace on May 4th of 3244

We have reserved two seats in your honor

Kindly RSVP by April 1st of 3244

Reception to Follow

White Tie Attire

Amy glared down at the piece of paper, "What the hell does 'white tie attire' even mean!? Does Sonic even know she's doing this?! What a bunch of jerks!"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Sally had given it to her after they'd gone shopping at Honey's boutique. Not just the two of them, all of the girls- Nicole, Bunny, even Cream was there. How absolutely foolish she was to think that they'd invited her out just for fun. How naive she'd been to think that it would just be a fun day of shopping and lunch.

And yet, how long had it been since she'd been able to do even that? Shadow had blatantly refused to go shopping again, as promised. She'd finally had other people to talk to about Daunted Daisies who didn't outright mock her. Someone she could ask for advice on outfits and things she couldn't talk to Shadow, or really anyone else, about. How much fun had today been…

Then Sally had handed her the envelope and revealed that the dresses they'd all bought together were her bridesmaid gifts for everyone. Everyone had immediately showered the chipmunk with gratitude and compliments, no one seemed shocked by the intention behind the gift and day except for Amy. The pink hedgehog girl had stood there frozen in the pretty dress, feeling weightless, exposed, and adrift.

Amy must've had a sour expression on her face, because suddenly the princess' attention had shifted to her, and she heard Sally ask if she was alright, but the voice sounded far and muffled. Amy forced a smile, thanked her for the dress, agreed to be a bridesmaid before quickly making an excuse to leave. As soon as she'd stepped foot outside the shop, she'd started to run and when she couldn't run anymore, she'd used her teleporter ring, not even caring where it took her. She'd been so relieved when she saw where it brought her here.

"Geez, all that trouble for this," Amy chuckled to herself, "Maybe I should just burn this myself, how hard could it be…?"

Her face scrunched and she glared at the card, willing it to combust. A pang of adrenaline flared within her chest, and her vision blurred at the edges to focus on the invitation in sharp clarity Her hands shook and the paper shuddered with them. After a moment she gave another shaking breath and crossed her legs, sitting herself more upright.

She closed her eyes focusing on the idea of Chaos Energy being all around her, in the air, in the trees and grass between her feet. She reached out towards it, her body vibrating with effort, and quills bristling with determination. She stayed that way for a few minutes before she growled and pulled a flute out of her pocket, shoving the card into her pocket as she did so.

She played a few notes hastily and closed her eyes once more. When nothing happened again she gave a low shriek and played the flute more slowly and more deliberately. This time she saw the ring of light create a halo around her head. Her spirit tried to grip it desperately, desiring above anything in that moment to feel the rush of Chaos Energy through her blood. For a moment there was nothing. Amy started to shake with her own fury and self-disgust when she felt a spark of Chaos Energy in the distance- just to the east of her. It was barely a mile away on top of a cliff side. Her heart jumped when she realized it continued to flicker in the distance. Amy threw her aura out to reach for the burst of chaos energy...

Only once again her body felt empty and barren. She could only feel it; barely see it... and she certainly couldn't use it.

Her face crumpled, the last vestiges of naive strength disappeared like mist. Tears fell from heartbroken emerald eyes as she gently put the flute back into her pocket. She curled into a ball, trying to feel the gentle wind caress her quills, even as her shame enveloped her in the growing darkness. Thoughts of impending doom that awaiting her in May, filled her heart, and she wanted to melt into the scenery. Maybe she could just stay planted here, like Shadow's trees. It would be peaceful here. She could be the ground and flowers would bloom merrily from her -

An explosion ripped through the air and she was pulled back to reality. She tried to ignore it and slip back into the comfort of fantasy, but then another boom sounded, this time slightly closer. Amy's ire grew as the explosions reached a crescendo. Finally, she reached the end of her rope when the blasting seemed to become one continuous stream of noise, noise, NOISE.

"Gods, CAN'T YOU LET A GIRL MOPE IN PEACE!?" she cried out towards the cliff. She jumped up into a fighting stance, her hammer in her hands as she glared up at her invisible opponent.

As if to answer in kind, one last eruption of light and noise obliterated the cliff in front of her. Amy fought defiantly against the force of the explosion but gasped when she saw a rockslide heading her way. She turned back towards the grove of baby trees behind her- Shadow's trees. Her trees. Amy briefly weighed her options. She could run away and let the trees die. Or she could stand her ground and get buried in the avalanche along with their trees.

"As if there were ever a question," Amy grit her teeth and she lunged forward into the fray. She gave a mighty roar, worthy of any great warrior and pulled her hammer back. She swung at the first boulder that barreled towards her chest, her body tensing and muscles clenching as she prepared for impact.

Before she could complete her swing, she felt something powerful and warm wrap around her and suddenly she was pulled as though in all directions. For a moment she couldn't breathe and began to panic, even as the pulling feeling ceased. She took a deep, gasping breath of the night air and tried to fight against the wiry and hot coils that now held her in place.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Amy froze when she recognized the voice. She looked up and was met with Shadow's wild ruby eyes. She watched as they searched her face and form, waiting impatiently for an answer. His quills, usually perfectly in place, were windblown and clearly tousled, as though he'd been running his fingers through them manically. Although he was glaring, she could make out red veins branching toward his irises from the corners of his eyes. She recognized that look.

"They look so tired and... has he been crying!?" Amy thought as she took in the slightest shimmer of water sitting at the bottom of his eyes.

"Are you okay?" she finally brought herself to ask, ignoring his question that hung in the air between them.

This time Shadow's eyes narrowed in on hers. His mouth and eyes twitched in disbelief and his ears folded back, "Are you... are you fucking KIDDING ME? I should be asking you that question!" His hands clasped over her shoulders and Amy briefly wondered if he was going to shake her,

"Who gives a shit about me!? You're the one charging into a damn ROCKSLIDE. What the hell were you thinking?!"

Amy shook her head in response, but smiled as a small wave of relief resonated through her chest. She couldn't begin to describe how glad she was that he was here. The warmth she felt that he was concerned for her, that at least there was one person that she could trust to have her best intentions at heart. She hadn't realized how much she'd craved this, how much she'd needed just one person on her side. She was overwhelmed with gratitude, and she felt her arms twitch towards him. Instead of giving him a hug - and boy did she really need one right about now - she stared him square in the eyes, her pride recovering from her shock and argued gently-

"I was doing fine, Shadow. I can keep up with Sonic all the time and..."

"I couldn't give less of a crap about what you 'think' you can do," Shadow ground out desperately, "Why are you here? Why didn't you run from that damn avalanche?!"

Amy gasped- she'd forgotten the trees- and she dashed towards the edge of the cliff. The response was too quick and wild for Shadow to react in time to keep her in place. Amy briefly registered his groan as she once again ignored his questions. She dropped and peered over the side on her hands and knees. She ignored Shadow calling for her and searched the darkness to see how far the destruction had reached. A sigh of relief left her when she realized the rockslide had only gotten some of the older trees and had barely touched the edge of hers and Shadow's grove.

Her relief was short lived when she felt herself being lifted by the straps of her new dress. She gave a short squeak of surprise as she was thrown back from the cliff's edge and landed roughly on her butt a few yards away. She slid against the rocky soil with other yelp of pain, this time glaring at Shadow who's eyes seemed even wilder than before.

"Have you gone MAD!?" he demanded, "You shouldn't lean off the edge of a Chaos-damned cliff! Especially after a fucking rockslide!"

Amy rubbed her sore bottom a glowing green glare aimed at him, "You could've been a little more gentle, you know. You could have broken my tail..."

"Pah! So you'd rather have every bone in your body shattered to pieces?!" he challenged as he paced menacingly towards her.

Amy rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips as she stared up at him harshly, "Would you stop freaking out? I'm fine! I just wanted to see if the trees we planted were okay."

Shadow stopped mid-step and simply stared at her. His expression was unreadable for a moment before he stomped back to the cliffside. He peeked over the edge as Amy gingerly stood, stretching herself out and wiping the dirt from her dress, "They're fine, by the way. The rockslide didn't reach them."

Shadow shook his head and his voice sounded so tired, "Only you would risk your life for a couple of fucking trees."

He made his way to a nearby tree stump near where Amy stood and practically dropped onto it. His head fell into his hands and just groaned, "Just don't do it again. I don't need another headache right now..."

Amy looked on in confusion and concern. She'd never seen the black hedgehog look so defeated before, his shoulders were slumped and she once again became aware of his disheveled state. Concern for her friend prompted the heat of pride within her to cool enough to allow her attention to turn to him.

"Shadow... are you okay? What happened to you?"

Shadow flinched at the question, "Don't ask me that."

"Why not?" Amy asked gently as she knelt next to Shadow.

Shadow paused before answering almost in a whisper, "I'd have to tell you if you asked."

Amy's heart jumped, the conviction in his voice was thick with emotion and she gulped. How bad was it that Shadow of all people didn't want to say it?, "Why… why would you?"

Shadow's head snapped up and his ruby eyes stared at her with irritated bafflement at her question as though the answer should've been obvious.

"I did promise not to lie to you," Shadow growled before adding, "At least, not to protect your feelings."

"That's it?" Amy snorted her jade eyes rolling, "Shadow, you're allowed to have secrets. There's things you can't tell me, and that's fine! I just ask that what you do tell me isn't a lie. If you say you don't want to talk about it, then I'll let it go..."

It was Shadow's turn to laugh, "Bullshit. You're not as nosy as Rouge is but you Freedom Fighters have a particular knack for barging into other peoples business."

Amy huffed at that, "There's a big difference between helping people in need and butting into other people's business! If you don't want to tell me about it, fine! I won't ask about it. Just... I dunno..."

Amy paused in thought before snapping her fingers in a moment of inspiration, "Just say it's classified, just like you did in the carriage." Her eyes were twinkling with humor at this point, and she smirked at his blank expression,

"That'll be the code word for 'Mind your own damn business.' Then I'll just stop asking about it and change the subject, or I can leave you completely alone if you say so. Like you could say..."

She trailed off for a moment, and he watched as her bottom lip protruded in deep thought, and her green eyes narrowed in concentration. She could feel his eyes on her, never leaving her and a part of her thrilled at having his undivided attention. Suddenly a spark lit in her eyes. Amy jumped up and Shadow's gaze remained stuck to her as she raised an arm up straight and pointed her fingers like a gun tilted all the way to the side, "Classified file, Operation: Get lost!"

Shadow's face was frozen for a minute before his hands eclipsed his eyes again and he began to shake. Amy's heart dropped and panic filled her at the thought that the impossible had happened… the Ultimate Lifeform had been reduced to tears and it was because of her. However before she started in on the apologies that grew in the back of her throat, an almost evil cackle erupted from his shaking form. She heaved a sigh of relief- she had no idea where to even begin to comfort the stoic, edgy male - Amy watched with a pouting smile as Shadow was taken over by uncontrollable laughter.

"I'm being serious!" Amy cried as her own laughter was pulled from her chest by his surprisingly contagious chuckles. She'd heard him laugh before, but this was the first time _she'd_ made him laugh before.

"You look like a fool!" Shadow laughed.

"Hey! I'm trying here!" Amy smiled in spite of herself, "Do you have a better idea?"

Shadow's laughing slowed down and a unusually big smile grew on his face. Amy couldn't help but wish he did that more often.

"Forget it, it's fine. It can't really be 'classified' if it involves you anyway."

Amy's smile failed her, "What do you mean?"

Shadow sighed, his own smile fading away. He sat up, his arms folded across his chest as he stared Amy dead in the face, "Rouge looked into your past and thinks you're lying about being a princess."

Amy's heart stopped and she felt her stomach sink. She felt as though she'd been stripped bare in front of him, the mention of her past and the idea of someone digging into it made her skin crawl with disgust. She blinked rapidly in disbelief, her eyes instinctively searching for some safe place around her, "What did she find?"

Shadow shrugged, "I didn't ask. She just said she had information. I don't know how she gets it, but she always does."

Amy's eyes shifted then squinted at Shadow, "Why... why didn't you ask?"

"You said you'd tell me when you were ready," Shadow quipped, "If I'm allowed to keep my secrets then so do you. Besides, being sneaky and sly isn't my style."

This time a smirk played at the corner of his lips and Amy's eyes widened. An odd mixture of feelings bubbled in her chest, one that made her feel as though she were being shielded from the evils of the world at large and at the same time she felt hesitant. On the one hand- she didn't like the idea of Rouge digging around her life. While it wasn't Shadow's responsibility she couldn't help but wish he'd just make it all go away. On the other… it was clear that when push came to shove- Shadow was on her side. That in his own way he was protecting her. She smiled again, this time much smaller and more reserved.

"That's... fair. Thank you for telling me anyway..."

She heaved a great sigh and plopped down onto the ground. She then flopped back onto her back and just stared up into the stars her eyes focusing on them like she could trace out the answers to her problems in their constellations. The stress of her private matters (or at least some odd version of her private matters, what the heck did Rouge even find?) being revealed was just added to the pile of nonsense in the forefront of her mind. Just another addition to bridesmaid dresses and wedding 'blues' that the day had brought

"What a day..." She sighed heavily.

Suddenly Shadow's face came into her periphery, a concerned and confused look had replaced the previous humor, "Are you okay?"

Amy groaned, it was her turn to put her hands to her face, "Don't ask me that... I don't really know."

She felt rather than saw Shadow staring at her, analyzing her as if she could be read like a book. Hell, maybe he could- because the moment she felt his eyes leave her was the moment he did the best thing he could for her.

Without saying anything, he walked behind Amy and laid down behind her, so his head was right next to hers. They stayed that way for a moment, watching the stars twinkle overhead. The moon began to rise between them over the cliffside when Amy broke the silence with another question, her curiosity getting the better of her-

"So… why are you here?"

He stayed silent and Amy worried that he wouldn't say anything, but then she heard a soft sigh.

"I just needed a quiet place to think about something Rouge said. She made it sound rather convincing and it was…"

Amy felt Shadow shudder, "What did she say that was so bad?"

Shadow fell silent again, this time lasting much longer. Amy resisted the urge to poke or stare at him, in order to get him to say something when he took a deep breath and replied, "Rouge is worried about how strong our friendship is. She's afraid I'll turn my back on the G.U.N and Team Dark as a result."

Amy squinted at the stars, "Is she worried you'd join the Freedom Fighters?"

"She's worried I'd choose you over my duties," Shadow continued, "And she's afraid of what would happen if I feel more for you than I do. So she wants our friendship to take a step back."

Amy's heart skipped a beat and her stomach grew uneasy, "Wait… 'I feel more for you than I do'? Does she think you have a crush on me?"

Amy's heart fell when Shadow let the silence grow too long. She laughed nervously, "Don't tease me."

"I'm not."

Amy smiled and gave Shadow a sideways glance, but all attempt of lighthearted expression was melted from her face when she realized his gaze was entirely stern and serious. Her ears and cheeks rushed with blood as her eyes widened while she stared at Shadow in open disbelief. Shadow turned his head to her languidly. He snorted, "You're practically glowing in the dark."

"Do you have a crush on me?" Amy demanded as she sat up to stare at him. She'd always wanted some sort of romantic connection but between friends? With _Shadow?!_ Her mind raced with scenarios of what she'd do if he said yes, NONE of them sounding satisfactory.

"Is… is that why your day is 'classified?'"

Shadow held her frantic gaze in his calm ruby eyes, his true emotions unreadable to her. Amy felt her heart beating fast and hard against her ribcage, and to make matters worse, her stomach was bubbling painfully, just why was her reaction so extreme? She felt the bubbles expand to all reaches of her chest, and now she couldn't even breathe… it was suffocating, these feelings that congealed in the farthest corners of her being.

She tried to keep herself from shaking as Shadow stared at her in an infuriatingly placid and unyielding way. Her mind assaulted her with questions, which only served to further the sickening feelings with in her. What would she say? What was the best way to tell Shadow the God-damned Hedgehog of all people that she just couldn't feel that way about him? Was this somehow her fault? Had she lead him on, creating an unrealistic image of their friendship? She'd have to break his heart, because she couldn't love him in that way… she loved Sonic and always would. After everything that happened between her and Sonic… he would understand… right?...

"No."

The bubbles popped, and she unconsciously inhaled loudly as she was free from their prison of questions and conflicting emotions. She blinked at him blankly, her focus clearing to reveal a male hedgehog who was staring at her with a raised brow and slight scowl.

"Wait… what?"

"I said, 'No,'" Shadow quipped, "Don't flatter yourself. Rouge just gets paranoid every once in a while and you 'leading me astray' was the simplest way she could imagine you hurting our team. She thinks all men are led by their dicks and she forgot who she was talking about."

Amy chuckled nervously as she gave a sigh of relief, "Geez, don't scare me like that! I honestly thought you did for a moment."

"So did I. Imagine how I felt," Shadow huffed, "Now that I've been able to sort everything out - thanks to your earlier stupidity - the notion of her concern is actually hilarious."

Amy snorted and gave him a little glare for the underhanded insult, "We'd be such a bad couple, too."

"Hmph, you'd just drag me down."

Amy scoffed, and her arms snapped to cross against her chest as she narrowed her eyes on him, "I would not! I would be the most romantic, wonderful girlfriend in the world. You'd be lucky to find a girl like me!"

"And do what? What's the point of being in a relationship?" Shadow argued, "Romance is nothing but a waste of time!"

"I mean… There's dates! And dancing, and just talking about everything and…"

"You already do all that with me," Shadow retorted, his hand waving dismissively before him, "I'm sure you do that with your other friends too. What's the actual difference between a friendship and a romance?"

Amy stared at him with an almost sympathetic look, "Wow, you really don't have a crush on me, huh?"

It was Shadow's turn to stare up at her, his quills bristling and an offended scowl on his face.

"What does that mean?"

Amy turned her head back to the stars trying to choose her words carefully, "I mean… like how I feel about Sonic. It's when you want to do all those things with the one you care about most. Where the idea of doing those things with others the way you do with that one special someone just feels... wrong.

"And I mean, yea there's kissing and sex and stuff, I guess?" Amy continued, "But… I dunno it's more than just the physical attraction. It helps some people but the foundation and framework is in the emotional connection. Where you could have a hundred moments with them and it never really feels like enough.

"And in the end… you just sort of know," Amy murmured, "You can feel a difference in those moments. No one's ever really been able to put a finger on it, to the point where some people call it a myth. But it's not. I've felt it. I know when it's real.

"I don't think you have it," she concluded. Then she nudged him playfully, "That's not a bad thing, by the way. Some people don't want anything to do with romance, just like you!"

Shadow snorted, "Don't patronize me, you're no good at it."

"Hey! I'm just trying to help, you were obviously bothered by it! You blew up a whole mountainside!"

Shadow stared at her again, "How'd you know that was me?"

Amy waved her hands through the air above their heads and towards the surrounding trees, "Do you see anyone else here who knows how harness enough Chaos Energy to level a mountain? Anybody around that's so traumatized that they needed to do that in the first place?"

"Please, you'd be too if you'd heard what I heard."

"How bad could it have been?" Amy asked uneasily.

"The term ' _lover_ ' was thrown out, unironically."

Amy paused, "What's wrong with that?"

Shadow glared at her judgmentally, "Are you… why would you call someone that? That's so… disgusting! It implies… implications!"

Amy nodded patronizingly, "Yea… people do that. And people like it."

"Well I… don't," Shadow stammered out, "And I refuse to participate."

Amy felt a sense of… unease? Disappointment? Something bubbled up in her chest and before she could stop herself she murmured, "...Not even with me?"

Shadow's eyes widened in shock and it was his turn to swerve his head towards Amy. She suddenly understood what he meant when he said she was glowing in the dark. Amy nearly lost it when his mouth opened and closed, as though he were trying to say something but not able to get anything out. However what sent her over the edge was watching him get audibly flustered, stammering like nothing she'd ever heard before. He looked so adorably comedic a fit of giggles began to wrack her body. Which only intensified as Shadow glared at her, stood up, and stomped away.

"Hey come on! You teased me first!" she called after him.

"Don't flatter yourself. I wouldn't touch you even if you were the last damn hedgehog on earth!" Shadow vowed.

Amy smirked, "But you've thought about it!"

"And I destroyed half a mountainside in my disgust. What does that tell you?"

Amy shot up and scrambled herself upright, "Hey! You don't know. And even if you wanted to, you'll never get the chance. It's a good thing you don't have a crush on me, I'd tell you to buzz off for being such an Ultimate jackass!"

"I'd rather jump off a cliff than do something so... debasing, with you." Shadow snarled back at her, his face struggling to keep his own smile off his face, "The Ultimate Life Form… walking together with some pink brat with a hammer? You're not even good enough to be my fake girlfriend!"

Amy erupted in giggles before she looked up at him, "Now who's the fool?"

"Tch… whatever…" he stopped and folded his arms tightly over his chest before shooting her a lofty look, "Your poses were stupid, and I don't do stupid."

"I was being a secret agent! It was supposed to be cute!" cried as her blush intensified.

"Agents aren't cute and no one carries a pistol like that."

"Why not?" Amy argued, "I see it on tv all the time."

"And I'm a real G.U.N agent. Guns are my specialty. It's literally in the name," Shadow retorted, "No one with half a brain carries one like that. The casing could smack you right in the face and with that tilt you'd lose too much accuracy."

"Yea well... who needs a gun anyway?" Amy pouted as she sat back down on the stump where Shadow had sat first.

"You should really think about having some sort of projectile weapon," Shadow pointed out, his line of thought shifting from their banter, "I get that close quarters is your specialty but what do you do if an enemy won't let you close the gap?"

"I dunno, throw my hammer?" Amy offered, "I'm almost as fast as Sonic. I haven't really had a problem closing gaps like that before..."

Amy crossed her arms in contemplation, "I guess if I needed to, I'm a fair hand with a crossbow..."

Shadow snorted, "You mean the 'outdated gun'?"

Amy laughed, "It's not the same thing!"

"It's exactly the same thing!" Shadow exclaimed as he turned towards Amy, "Come with me to a gun range. I'll teach you how to shoot. It's almost the same concept just a little less... bulky."

Amy gave a more nervous laugh, "I dunno. What if I... hurt someone?"

"The chances of that are slim to none as long as you follow the basic safety measures," Shadow assured her, "I'll walk you through it all before we do anything. I won't let anything happen to you or anyone there."

Amy didn't know when, but a different, more warm feeling started spreading through her chest. Something familiar but… calmer than what she'd ever felt before. She mentally shrugged and filed the feeling under relief at knowing someone wanted to hang out with her without ulterior motives at least. She gave a small giggle and said, "Fine... but only if you do me a favor..."

Amy reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled card from earlier. Shadow walked back to her and watched as she flattened it out and handed it to him. Amy glanced at him nervously as Shadow read over the paper. His eyes narrowed and he squared her up with a deadpan look, "Is this why you were in a shitty mood?"

"Just go with me? Please?" Amy smiled, ignoring the prompting for her to delve into the drama from her 'girl's day.', "I mean, I'm supposed to be one of the bridesmaids and I don't know anyone else I can go with! I don't even know who's in the groom's party, so I need someone to be my date in case Sonic pairs me with some weird stranger ! Please? Pretty please?"

Shadow glared between her and the card and back again; to the point where Amy was worried he'd outright decline. Instead he sighed and pinched the bridge of his muzzle, "...What the fuck does 'white tie' mean?"

Amy squealed and lunged to hug him. As she squeezed him, Shadow protested, his hands pushing into her shoulders firmly, "I didn't say yes!"

"You wouldn't care about what white tie meant unless you were going to wear it!" Amy chirped in a sing-song voice, a grin spread across her face and a mischievous twinkle enter her eye as she added "And we'll have to look it up. 'Cause I dunno either."

Shadow glared at her but didn't argue. Instead he stood, breaking Amy's hold on him and grumbled, "Rouge is an idiot."

He held out his hand for her and Amy took it. Shadow pulled her up gently in spite of his grumpy attitude.

"Why do you say that?" Amy asked, "Not that I'm arguing..."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Stupid that she ever thought I could fall for you like that. That you could ever break up our team with your 'feminine wiles.' What a joke."

"Why would I want to? You guys aren't always good guys but you're not bad guys either. I don't want to ruin your other relationships…"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Like I said, she gets paranoid every once in a while. If it makes you feel better she has dossiers on everyone she meets. Even Omega and I…"

Amy pouted and crossed her arms at that, "Can't say it does…"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Get used to it. She'll never stop until she has every single bit of information she can get on you."

"Good luck with that!" Amy winked, "'Cause I guarantee she's got the wrong information already."

Suddenly a yawn split her face and she looked down at her watch to check the time. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her sockets when she saw the time, "Geez, look at that time! I gotta go get some sleep!"

"Fine, go you weakling," Shadow waved her away, "It's like I said- we could never happen, you and I…"

Amy huffed incredulously as she pulled one of the bracelets from her wrist that served as a teleportation ring. She tossed it forward and watched as the ring grew, revealing her living room. Amy stepped into the ring, leaving only her head on his side, "I'll just take my leave then! I won't be where I'm not wanted!"

Shadow glared back, his arms crossed, "Fine. I'll see you at the range!"

"What range?"

"The gun range!"

"Which one?!"

"The... fuck it, I'll text you the address."

"Great! It's a date! See you then, fake lover boy!"

Amy watched with glee as the ring collapsed over the look of abject horror on Shadow's face.


	10. I've Taken My Shots

**This was a difficult chapter to write. Especially after the events in my hometown's festival shooting. Then another closer to where I live that hurt my family just as much. I set up that last chapter to make this one a bonding moment between Amy and Shadow. However, over the course of the last eight months I've had to completely retool it because the whole chapter rang both callously tone deaf and emotionally hollow. I'm sorry for taking so long with this. I hope that this chapter and the bonus scene at the end can help make up for the eight month long hiatus.**

 **Thank you so much for everyone's well wishes and encouragement for this story. It means a lot to me to see old and new shad/amy shippers jumping on the wagon after so long.**

 **On a completely unrelated note- for anyone who is having trouble trying to write out "what happens next"- Eggman is a REALLY good scapegoat, let me tell you...**

* * *

 **I've Taken my Shots**

Shadow took several deep breaths. The muffled sound of his steady breathing echoed in his head as he raised his pistol and shot six consecutive times at his target. The exact name of the weapon escaped him. Not that he particularly cared. He shook his head, switched the safety on, and placed the gun down carefully on a small dish towel with the muzzle facing downrange. The name didn't matter- he was too distracted to care beyond hitting his target. He looked down range, squinting slightly to check on the target. A small rumble of a growl echoed in his chest when he saw how spread out the shots were- all six of them barely grazing the paper bulls eye fluttering in the wind. Shadow cursed under his breath and pulled the ear muffs roughly off of his ears. A cool, late winter breeze tickled his ears as he pulled his phone from his holster pocket to check the time.

"2:17... She's late."

He scoffed as he unlocked his phone to check the messages again. When he confirmed that Amy had indeed promised to meet him at this outdoor range at 2pm, on this exact date, he shoved the phone impatiently back into his pocket and stomped down the range to change the target out. As he ripped the paper off of its clipped post he eyed the empty cans a bit longingly. The targets were small and didn't move nearly as much in the wind, but they made a much more satisfying sound when hit.

"Frankly it'd serve her right for being late," he thought, thoroughly vexed.

While not an entirely fair thought, he had asked to book the place privately for a solid two hours to get Amy used to shooting before they could have some real fun.

Not that they didn't have fun, but it would be nice to talk about something other than those… Browbeat Begonias? Terrorized Tiger Lilies?

"She better come soon. It was far more expensive than usual," he grumbled with a small snarl, "The owner kept asking if I was sure, too. As if I needed to rethink this…"

"Maybe he knew Amy wouldn't come..."

Shadow's heart thumped painfully at the thought of Amy simply ghosting their get-together. She hadn't seemed too sure when he told her how serious he was about teaching her to shoot...

"Tch...of course not. She's not a coward. She'd tell me if she didn't want to do this."

Shadow shook his head again and set up a new, much larger paper target with three small circles orbiting a much larger one in the center.

"I've taken my shot," he reasoned, "Better for her to start with an easier target."

He took the clip attached to the post in front of him and attached the target onto the post. As he made his way back down range, however, something loomed in the distance that made him stop in his tracks and stare with wide, confused eyes.

How he hadn't heard or seen it in the first place was a complete mystery to him but there was the giant Eggman Mech, rampaging in a distant valley of the mountain range just outside of East City. How did he know it was Eggman's? Well, who the hell else would make such a garish, bright red and gold centipede in such EXACTING detail minus the giant Eggman face where the head should be. Shadow squinted. Maybe not exact detail, anyway, the centipede had 5 clear sections to it, including the head that were perfectly round- no doubt the reason why it was struggling through the mountains in the first place.

Shadow rubbed his eyes with one hand as he watched the giant mech crest the mountain side and climb to the other side. He could practically hear the Doctor's maniacal laughter as he made his way closer to the borders of the United Federation. He crumpled the already ruined target in his hands. His ears folded back and he growled in annoyance, "Great. Perfect. So much for today."

Shadow checked his phone. Nothing from the Commander or Rouge or anyone from HQ. He scoffed as he started running towards the shooting shed, "No orders to engage? So close to the damn city? Seriously?"

But as he quickly gathered his things, threw them into his teleporter ring (set to home), and dashed towards the mountain range, a small, devious smile formed over his face, "No orders to engage... but also no orders to stand down either..."

Shadow's sneer deepened as he sped ever closer to the centipede, "Amy will be disappointed she missed this..."

* * *

 **In the Belly of the Beast**

Amy wasn't sure why she was so ill at ease.

Well, that wasn't entirely true- she knew she was here to take down Eggman's Bug Monster of the Week. Someone had to do something about that. She wasn't alone- Sonic, Tails, even Tangle and Knuckles had joined in the fight. She'd gone up against Eggman's nonsense so many times now with far worse odds…

Why did today feel like it would be the last one?

It was the certainty that threw her the most. Its icy pit sat painfully in her stomach drawing herself inward in a hunched stance and made her steps feather quiet in spite of her usual red boots. She would have been proud, had her steps not been hidden beneath the racket of her team's pounding footsteps. As determined as she was not to let it show, her lips and jaw were clenched tightly together and her eyes darted were wide and quick over her bleak surroundings. Her lace-gloved hands clenched over her hammer as she followed her compatriots through endlessly grey halls that seemed to suck all the hope right out of Amy- leaving her frigid and shivering inside.

Surprising, considering she'd been inside countless Eggman fortresses, gotten out mostly unscathed and seen them all destroyed one way or another. Even her dress wasn't all that different from usual a deep crimson red dress with white lace in the shape of hearts along the hem. A white belt with a black heart buckle completed the look. Not entirely different from her usual look but dressy enough for the occasion.

Yet it was all just different enough to make a difference.

Amy rolled her eyes as she ran through the halls, "So much for today..." she thought trying to distract herself from her pounding heart, "I was so worked up this morning about going shooting with Shadow; and Eggman just chose today to attack the UF anyway!

"Maybe that's why I don't feel right?" she hoped as she poked cautiously around her assigned corner in a four-way corridor. When she motioned for the all clear, Tails motioned back for her to regroup with the rest of the team. Tails then pulled out a small tablet and motioned for everyone to gather around it. Still, even as Tails explained the plan, Amy couldn't help but let her thoughts distract her. Her ears perked and swerved back and forth, trying to pick up any sound beyond Tails' lecturing.

She pulled her thoughts to Shadow for a moment, trying to work up the guilt at having to ditch him so suddenly.

"Deal with it later," she told herself, "He'll understand. He knows how important this is. I'm a Freedom Fighter after all. It took me years to get here…"

She could feel herself growing more and more annoyed with Tails' prattling in the background. She wished desperately that she could deal with that later too. Why was it so gods-blessedly quiet. Where was all the...

Suddenly Amy's ears stiffened and pulled her in the same direction, "What was that?"

Whatever it was it made her blood run cold and her heart pound in her ears. Amy's eyes were fixed in the direction of the sound, trying to figure out what exactly the sound had been and why it sounded so damn blood chilling... and familiar...

"Amy?"

Said hedgehog's face paled then blushed heavily as she realized everyone was staring at her. While Sonic and Tails' stares were concerned, Knuckles' and Tangle's were just plain confused. Amy's cheeks puffed out in response.

"Tails! We don't have time for these long-winded lectures!" she berated under her breath, "Just tell us what we need to do before Eggman finds us!"

"But... I just did..." he replied forlornly.

Amy's blush grew deeper as she doubled down, "Yea well... I... didn't get it. You made it way too complicated!"

Amy broke out in a cold sweat when Sonic shot her with a suspicious look but relaxed when Tangle giggled nervously, "Yea... I'm with her. I don't exactly know what it means to, uh... extricate the... dohickey...mahbob...?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes, "Please! You two just weren't paying attention! He was clearly telling us to destroy the Dewey Decibel Triple hinges in each of the weak spots."

Knuckles folded his arms and nodded with pride as Tails gently placed his head in his hands and Sonic clapped sarcastically, "Wow. Great work, Knuckles. That was a perfect example of what Tails said NOT to do."

Knuckles shot Sonic a glare as Amy breathed a huge sigh of relief. Sonic ignored both of them and placed a comforting hand on Tails' shoulder, "I got this buddy... You go on ahead, take Tangle and Knucklehead with you. Explain it all again on the way. I'll catch up with you before we get to the Egg-head."

Tails rolled his eyes at the pun and ran off, shaking his head with Tangle and Knuckles following behind him. As they all stomped away ("Could they be any louder?" Amy wondered how they hadn't been spotted yet…), Amy felt a gentle hand on her shoulder that set her heart pounding even harder and her shoulder to involuntarily flinch.

"You doing okay?" Sonic asked, his hand stubbornly staying on her shoulder.

Amy's head fogged up pleasantly for a moment, Sonic's hand felt perfectly warm on her shoulder and brought a small comfort to her that was rather rare when Shadow wasn't around. As she looked down on his hand, she caught sight of his ring over his glove and she was brought back to painful ("Not that bad," she reasoned with some triumph) reality. She gently held his hand and pulled it off of her shoulder.

"I'll be okay," Amy answered with a small shrug, "This place just creeps me out."

Sonic's eyebrow raised skeptically, "Are you sure? I've seen you suss out way harder Tails Talk than what he threw out just now. You sure you don't want me to partner with you today?"

Amy's heart thumped painfully and her jaw clenched so hard she could hear her teeth creak, "I can handle it just fine."

Sonic stared at her, then held out a small metal sphere. As Amy reached out to take it, Sonic pulled it back, "So what are you doing with this?"

Amy huffed, "Diffusing the bombs Eggman set in each of the sections."

"By…?"

"Sonic, I know…"

"Amy, I just want to know you'll be okay. You're acting really weird."

Amy's fists clenched tighter on her hammer, "I know you guys don't trust me with much, but if you don't think I can push a button then you need to send me home, your Highness."

Amy practically spat out the last two words. Despite her instant guilt, she couldn't help but feel a small bit of satisfaction at Sonic's flinch. The guilt and worry began to brew in earnest as Sonic stared on then gave a heavy and hurt sigh. He handed her the ball. It sat heavy in her hand, "Fine. If you need something just give me a ring."

Amy winced at his painful choice of words and watched as he disappeared in a gust of wind. Amy regretted the silence but took a deep breath of her own regardless. She squared her shoulders and ran headlong against the screaming in her mind not to take another step.

* * *

As Shadow made his way through the catacombs of the centipede, he was alarmed by the quiet of it.

Normally when it came to Eggman Mechs, especially ones the size of a small base, they were armed to the teeth and loaded with so many guards it could sate even Omega's appetite for violence. The tapping of his run and his own heavy breathing echoed through the barren metal halls. The echoes over the absolute buzzing silence were starting to pull him to places he only returned to in his worst nightmares. This wasn't an over the top Eggman ploy. This felt like a trap.

"Where the hell is everyone?!" he growled to himself.

He was beginning to wonder if this was a hallucination, regularly checking the sides of the walls to feel the metal and listen closely to the tapping of his rocket shoes beneath him, when he heard a most wonderful sound...

Gunfire.

His ears honed in on the sound as he powered up his shoes and began skating at full speed towards the sound. Shadow smirked when he realized the sound was getting louder as he got closer and further as he took wrong turns in the convoluted halls. When he reached the end of the hallway, he found a wide, round room laced in catwalks. The place was absolutely SWARMED with the doctor's robots converging on something towards the center of the room several stories up...

Shadow squinted up from his position, "What are they shooting at...?

He felt his blood freeze in this veins when he realized they were converging on something pink and red that was screaming.

Shadow had teleported up three stories before he even realized he had moved. He'd only barely pieced together who the screaming could have belonged to by the time he'd jumped to the final platform and saw his top theory confirmed- Amy Rose screaming in...

Pain? Fury? Fear? Stress?

Before he could get a better look at her, he had to dodge flying shrapnel that was once a Badnik head. As he quickly dodged more debris from Amy's onslaught and bullets from the desperate robots, he slowly got a better picture of what was going on, even over the cacophony of Amy's screaming and continuous gunfire.

Amy was crying, her wild green eyes widened to take in every moment from every angle. She was sweating, to the point where the colors from her red dress were starting to bleed into the lace that was flapping crazily off of their seams. With every shot from the guns around her, Amy evaporated, Shadow had never seen her move so quickly, slamming one robot, then another. For every shot from the veritable army before her, she obliterated another of their number. Over the sound of their destruction was her constant, pained, furious screaming.

But there was something else going on as well...

"What is that beeping noise?"

Shadow teleported behind Amy and saw she was guarding something behind her- a giant timer.

"A BOMB?!" Shadow's thoughts scrambled further.

He felt an ominous whoosh of air and he teleported away just in time to miss getting hit by Amy. As he started to fall from his chaos control point near the ceiling of the beast- he took a deep breath and began to form a plan.

"Step one- **Eliminate the threats to Amy.** "

Shadow gathered the chaos energy around him. There wasn't very much, but it was enough to shoot off 5 bolts of chaos spears at targets on the catwalks beneath the main platform. Just before he landed, he curled into a ball and began to charge a spin dash.

"When was the last time I used this move?" he thought to himself with a haughty scowl, "Please... when was the last time I needed to?"

A green, ancient glow converged on him. The moment he landed was the moment he released his spin dash...

"DISAPPEAR!"

Amy's screaming was dwarfed by the explosion of Eggman's robots around her. As Shadow came out of the dash he found that he'd landed only a few feet in front of Amy.

His victory was short lived as he dodged another swing from Amy. He teleported back and immediately moved on to step 2-

" **Assess the damage to Amy**."

Amy was no longer screaming. Her eyes were glazed over, but they were transfixed on Shadow- as though she wasn't sure he wasn't a threat. Shadow's heart sunk in that moment but he continued his assessment. She was panting and shaking, but she was still set in a warriors stance, even under all the sweat and tiny bleeding cuts that criss-crossed her body. They stood this way for what felt like an eternity before the beeping behind Amy seemed to bring them both back into the moment. Amy's shaking became more intense and her tears began to stream harder from her eyes as she turned towards the bomb behind her.

Shadow's eyes closed in pain- he knew exactly what was going on now...

Shadow held up his hands and slowly walked towards her, making sure his steps were not stomping but loud enough for her to gauge where he was at all times. In a gentle, but firm, voice he called out to her, "I'm coming towards you. Tell me when you need me to stop."

Amy's ears flicked back but she made no motion to move away from the timer. As he moved closer, however, one ear swiveled back and her head tilted towards him, her eyes still streaming but one fixed towards him as though in warning. Shadow slowed his footsteps but didn't stop.

"Where are you right now, Amy?"

Amy's shaking intensified and Shadow heard something metal drop from her hands. Her voice was so tiny and thick as she cursed and quickly scrambled to pick up whatever it was. She fumbled with every beep of the timer in front of her and a low whine began to accompany her cursing as it just. Kept. Dropping.

Shadow was almost to her when she dropped it again and cried out. This time it rolled towards his feet- a small metal sphere with a button on top of it. Amy scrambled to stand and reach for her hammer. Shadow's breath caught as he realized Amy was very seriously contemplating attacking him.

"Amy... I'm not going to hurt you," he called out, gently but unable to keep the frantic edge out of his voice.

Still, it seemed to bring Amy back to reality. Her hammer dropped to the floor with a poof and her hands veiled her face, barely muffling the quiet sobbing she was trying to stifle.

"Amy!? You doing okay?" the voice erupted from her pocket.

Amy's breath hitched and she frantically turned towards the timer- only a minute left. She clenched her hands and swung herself back towards Shadow- who'd already picked up the sphere at his feet and was making his was briskly towards her.

Step 2b- **Stop the bomb**

"What do you need me to do?" he asked, his voice smooth and controlled but just as gentle as it had been before.

"I..." it came out as a whine. Amy shook her head and cleared her throat. The voice that came out slightly more commanding, "Attach it to the hooks there, beneath the timer. Then press the button."

Shadow did as he was told and silenced the beeping with 45 seconds to spare on the bombs. Immediately alarms went off around them, causing Amy to jump practically out of her skin. Shadow eyed her, and yelled over the noise, "I'm going to get us out of here. Ready?"

Amy nodded and grabbed at Shadow's hand quickly. Shadow gently wrapped his other arm around her and teleported away. Less than a moment later they were in the February cold of the mountains just outside of East City. One more pull and they were at the base of the mountains, in a barely grassy meadow surrounded by gently frosted evergreens. They watched as the centipede crawled ceaselessly away from them, almost a mile away up the last set of mountains to get to the city. Amy's shaking had stilled but her eyes had a defeated far off look that Shadow knew didn't belong on her face. They stayed this way in silence for a moment before something crackled to life in her pocket again.

"AMY!? COME IN AMY!?"

They both flinched at the sound, with Shadow growling as Amy peeled herself away from him and pulled the communicator from her pocket. She took two deep breaths just as Sonic was swearing he was coming to get her himself.

"The bombs been disarmed," she said, her voice betraying none of the previous symphony of emotions that'd she'd displayed before, "Get everyone out of there and signal the GUN to take that stupid thing down!"

"Where are you?!"

"I'm safe. Get everyone else out. I'll... meet up at the rendezvous point soon. I just need a minute..."

She was met with silence for a moment before Sonic called out, "You heard her! Let's juice, guys!"

Amy gave a relieved sigh as she heard the other three loud affirmatives. She plopped herself on the grass and held the communicator tightly- listening to the mishmash of commands between her friends and the GUN. Shadow listened distantly to the rumble of Eggman's mech halting then tumbling into an unusable pile of rubble at the base of the mountains on their side. His ears twitched when he heard Amy struggling to get up.

Step 3- **Tend to Amy**

"We have some time before we have to go," Shadow murmured softly, "I'm certain we took care of the bulk of those metal fools. Your friends can take care of any stragglers..."

He gingerly sat by her side, legs crossed and hands resting on his knees. He kept his face as soft as he could muster ("What the hell does that even mean?" he thought as he fought to keep his face relaxed). His eyes landed on her red and swollen ones, "You look like you could use a rest."

Amy's eyes darted between Shadow and the mess barely a mile away. Shadow could practically see the mad conference going on in her head before her eyes settled and she landed hard on the ground, sitting on her legs with her hands folded hard over her knees. Shadow almost rolled his eyes, but decided not to argue.

He pulled a ring off of his wrist, only to reach into it again and pulled out a first aid kit. He re-positioned himself to kneel closer to Amy as he opened the kit. He pulled out a small cloth and a small bottle of water. As he wet the cloth with the water he turned back to Amy, motioning towards her injuries.

Amy looked down in shame but nodded. As Shadow slowly, gently tended to her injuries, Amy opened up.

"I don't really know what happened in there," she whispered thickly, "I'd been on edge all day already. Once I heard the shooting I just sort of... lost it."

Shadow nodded, "Your arms and chest go numb?"

Amy sighed, "...Yes."

"Heart pounding? Sweating?"

"I know it was a panic attack, Shadow!" Amy cried, "I've had them before... That's the first time an Eggman attack has ever done that to me, though..."

Shadow hesitated mid pat before addressing her head on, "Do you remember what triggered it?"

Amy's eyes fell again and she shook her head, "I don't know… it… wasn't that bad. It was...just… the same shooting I've heard from Eggman's goons for years…"

Shadow was shocked by the bitterness in her voice. When he saw her eyes widen he realized she probably was too.

Amy's voice started getting thick again, "I mean..."

Tears were trailing down again and she started sniffling, "I've… we've been dealing with Eggman for years. I first went against him when I was… eight? It took me so long to be able to stand up to him the way my friends could. You remember, right?"

Shadow stomach twisted inside of him. He remembered a twelve year old little girl with a gun pointed to her head. He remembered that same girl talking down a living weapon from destroying the world. He remembered a slew of adventures that same year, and all the years to come until this very moment.

"I remember," he affirmed.

"I've always been able to fight through being scared. I've always been able to keep pushing through and stick to the plan. Heck, I've been able to come up with stuff on the fly! Even in the thick of it. I don't know why I almost failed...I don't...I don't want..."

Her voice failed her then. Her head fell into her hands again. Her sobbing shook her and she leaned heavily against Shadow- who immediately caught her and held her against his chest. Amy sat against him, wailing into his chest. Gently he ran his hands through her quills, his other hand gently patting her back with the wet cloth. Even as he tried to focus on cleaning all the small grazes where he could reach them, his heart broke for her. Deep down, he knew the deepest hurt she had was something too big for him to just will away.

Still, he had to try...

"What don't you want?" he prompted as her sobbing slowly started to wane.

"I..." her voice still thick with emotion she coughed to clear her throat and give a deep breath before continuing, "I just... I don't want to be useless again. I don't want to go back to having to be rescued again. I don't want to keep losing it every time I hear a gun go off. I don't want to hurt people..."

She curled up, "Oh gods I almost hit you again..."

Shadow's eyes closed tightly against the pain of another wave of her sobs. He tightened his grip around her. This time her arms wrapped around him and squeezed him tightly back. As her sobs quieted down, Shadow opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again...

"You've... taken your shot."

"Wh... what?"

Shadow paused, trying to remember what he was trying to say exactly, then tried once more, "The professor... before he went mad... he had a saying. Life is a series of shots you take.

"Drinking shots, not bullet shots," Shadow clarified, "And every drink you take has consequences in them. Some of them are full of amazing things; things you aim for in life; things that you want. Some you realize too late that you don't; some that people force you to take. Some so bitter it's like a poison...

"You've taken your shot... the one that makes you into a warrior. One that turns you into someone powerful, compassionate, and brave. I've seen it turn you into someone who can't back down from anything- especially when you feel there's no other choice.

"We've both taken this shot. Your friends too. It's... an honorable drink. But it's one with its own dire consequences. A tendency to throw yourself into danger, for instance, even when we know we want to stay alive."

Shadow could feel Amy soften slightly in his arms, and he loosened his grip in return, "So... I should just... want to die?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "You're missing the point. You're not weak for wanting to stay alive. You're not useless for not saving people perfectly. It's hard to escape the feeling of wanting to stay safe and comfortable. But the drink we've taken demands we set that feeling aside, for the greater good. Eventually our minds get sick of turning that alarm off in our heads- either by turning up the volume, in your case, or it destroys the alarm altogether."

Amy snorted, "I wish..."

"No, you don't."

Amy pulled herself gingerly from him and shot him with a look of pure shock. Shadow's eyes stayed level as hers searched his, "I've lost my will to live; more than once. You've seen me there. You've pulled me back from it. I've seen people who stay in both places at the same time. It rips them to pieces. Don't let it do the same to you."

Amy's eyes widened then feel in shame, "Shadow... I'm sorry... I didn't know."

"Why would you? I never shared that with you," he waved her apology away, "You have nothing to apologize for. Although..."

He set her back on her legs and focused back on her scratches again, "If you want to make it up to me... go see someone. I can't heal this, not completely. If you need someone to talk to... I don't mind listening. I know that can help."

Shadow refused to look Amy in the eye as he worked his way up her right arm and worked around her back. He knew she was staring at him. Knew that she would have that emotional gloss in her eyes that would put a lump in his throat. Gods knew he wasn't prepared to cry in front of her, if he could help it.

Still, Amy placed her right hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Thank you for saving me and for all of this. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come along."

A stubborn lump settled in his throat anyway. With a blush he gave a small grunt; it was all he could manage with a straight face.

Precious, peaceful moments passed in companionable silence between the two. As he made his way to her left side, Shadow decided to try and lighten the mood, "It seems just as well that we didn't get to teach you to shoot. You're dangerous enough with that hammer of yours."

Amy chuckled wryly, "You don't mean that…"

Shadow shot her a look, "I don't flatter. It's disingenuous and frankly insufferable to me."

Amy's smile grew a centimeter, "You did promise me the truth…"

Shadow nodded, "I did."

Amy's smile faltered a minute, "Why were you in the mech, anyway?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Hard to miss that hulking mess over there. Someone had to do something about that."

Amy's smile grew bigger and Shadow's heart fluttered with hope at the sight of it, "Yea… that's true too. But what I meant was why weren't you with the G.U.N? This was a joint operation and they never told us you were coming."

"They never called me about it. I came on my own terms."

Amy paused, "You sure about that? I called you a couple times to let you know I wouldn't be coming and it just kept going straight to voicemail."

Shadow paused then looked down at his phone, no calls...

And no signal.

Shadow closed his eyes and took a deep breath again, "Damn it. I suppose it's a good thing I saw that thing in the distance... I imagine Rouge won't be very pleased with me..."

Amy giggled slyly, "Why? Because you ditched a mission or because they think you ditched to spend Valentine's Day with the Pink Persona non Grata?"

Shadow froze again, this time really taking in Amy's outfit again. Suddenly he realized it wasn't her normal get up but a fancier, heart covered version of it. He thought back to the owner of the shooting range, asking if he was sure. Suddenly he remembered the knowing look in the old man's eyes...

A blush had taken over his face as he looked at his phone once again. Just as he feared, it read, "February 14th" in bold bright letters.

"I'll never hear the end of this," he groaned inwardly.

Amy smiled at him teasingly and he knew what was coming next, "My hero, come to save me on Valentines Day! How romantic~!"

Shadow growled out warningly but tried deflecting anyway, "Give me your hand..."

"Oh, Shadow! A Valentine's Day proposal?" Amy cried as she obliged, "We really shouldn't! So close to Sonic and Sally's wedding? What will people think~?"

"People are going to be thinking about a pink, infection riddled lunatic stuck in the mountains soon if you don't quit it!" Shadow grumbled as he took her arm roughly and started dabbing at the scratches, "You're already clearly delusional..."

Amy giggled, and Shadow ignored the flip his heart did in response, "I guess you're right. What kind of gentleman doesn't ask to be a girl's valentine first! I'm insulted by your lack of decorum!"

"I didn't know it was Valentines day!"

"Yes you did! You still wanna be my boyfriend, don't you~? The way you charged against all those Eggbots is undeniable!"

"Why would I keep track of an insipid, money-grubbing, meaningless holiday like Valentine's Day?" Shadow shot back, "Especially if I had to celebrate it with someone as love crazy as you?"

"I am not love crazy!"

"Yes you are. You know how I feel about romance and you still insist there's something there..." this time he smirked, "The hopeless delusion of a hopeless romantic... not that I blame you… I am the Ultimate Life form, after all!"

The shrieking that followed was much more pleasant to his ears. It wasn't until they heard an insistent Tangle on the other end of the line that they stopped their banter, got up and Amy led him to the rendezvous point. As they made their way to the point, Shadow and Amy saw their teams waiting for them. Shadow's ears pulled back against Rouge's yelling, far less pleasant than Amy's was, and Omega grumbling about hogging all the destruction for himself. It wasn't until Sonic came up to Team Dark and proposed a party at the Acorn Palace to celebrate that Shadow felt something slightly off. He confirmed it when Sonic went to shake his hand and Shadow felt a note in there. Later, as he fell back on his own, it read-

"An hour into the party- meet me in the Oak Grove garden. We need to talk."

Shadow would have ignored it, but attached to the note was a pencil outline of a familiar robotic bug. Inside the outline was written, "2/?"

Shadow cursed under his breath- they'd found another Mantis Knight.

* * *

 **Bonus Scene**

As Shadow walked into the garden- he felt a combined sense of unease and anger. A constant growl simmered in his chest as he walked through the cleverly named Oak Grove garden. The note, long destroyed and disposed of, had said to meet in this forest with no way to tell where the hell he was supposed to meet specifically.

As if to spite his unease, Sonic stumbled in the dark in front of him- his arms up on each side of his head and an arguably scary face on. A bottle of something sloshed in his hand as he made slurred ghost noises at Shadow. As his tongue wagged out at him, Shadow smelled something foul coming from his mouth.

"Seriously?" he questioned, "You've been drinking? I thought you needed to talk to me."

Sonic giggled at him, "Oh lighten up! We're just gonna have a friendly chat over a drink…"

"I don't talk to drunks," Shadow argued, "I won't having anything to do with that swill…"

Now Sonic shot him with an evil smile, "Oh, contraire mon fur… moan free? Ah… whatever, I'll ask Antoine later…

Sonic switched the bottle into his left hand and reached behind him with his right. When he pulled out a small bug shaped thing out of his pocket, Shadow's growl ceased and his blood froze. It was, indeed, a Mantis Knight.

Shadow contemplated playing stupid. He knew that's what Rouge would do. He considered simply grabbing it from Sonic and destroying it. He knew Omega would try.

"Follow me- I wanna 'akss' you a couple things," Sonic slurred- his eyes far more focused than his words.

"...And if I refuse?"

"Then I go SSTRAIGHT to Amy and tell 'er that you're just hanging 'round to get to her past- using this little bugger as proof."

Shadow's heart stopped and he knew he couldn't risk it. He was neither Rouge nor Omega. And he knew that even if he grabbed it and destroyed it… anyone Sonic told would believe him…

Especially Amy.

Shadow's fists clenched and his teeth ground together, "...Fine."

Sonic gave an evil smile, "Good choice. Right this way!"

Sonic stumbled away, with Shadow behind him grumble-hoping he would fall into a ditch and die. Slowly. Painfully. Then nixed that particular hope knowing he would then have to explain to Amy and her friends why Sonic had died in a mysteriously suspicious way.

They reached a low hill, where a giant oak tree stood- older and more grand than any other he'd seen before. Shadow's fingers itched for a clipping of that tree but his pride forbade him from asking for something from his captor. Still- as they both eased themselves into their seats against the giant oak, Shadow couldn't help but allow the bark to cool his temper and sooth his pride. He imagined himself tapping into the endless patience of this ancient tree…

It was the only way to keep himself from attacking Sonic as he shoved the bottle under his nose.

"Want some?"

Shadow sniffed at the offending drink, "Is that an order or a request?"

Sonic snorted, "It's an offer. You ever drink before?"

A question. Damn, "I have."

"'Nough to get drunk before?"

Damn him, again, "No."

"How much?"

Fuck Sonic the hedgehog, "A lot."

"Too much?" Sonic asked, concern in his voice as he pulled the drink away.

Shadow rolled his eyes, "I'm not an alcoholic. I don't drink because it's disgusting."

Sonic sighed in relief, then grinned again, "Tell you what- it's pretty lonely drinking alone. If you take a sip ah this with me, I'll answer your questions honessly too- fair trade?"

Shadow contemplated the drink for a moment before staring Sonic down, "Any questions?"

Sonic pulled out a small glass, "S'long as they don't involve state secrets- sure! Fair trade!"

Sonic poured the glass of dark red liquid for Shadow and handed it to him. Shadow took it gingerly, eyeing it warily as he did so. He sniffed it, oddly enjoying the bright and fruity notes with the odd nutty and spicy notes in the background. He knew from experience the smell was a lie, though. He sighed in resignation as he shot a glare at Sonic, "Blackmail is a new trick for you, Hedgehog…"

Sonic's eyes were downcast for a moment before he squared Shadow with a look, "I do what I gotta. Now do you want the drink or not?"

Shadow stared at him a moment longer before he sighed once again and threw his drink back. Immediately the warm spicy mix burned the back of his throat and the cloying sweetness nearly made him gag. Still, he swallowed the drink.

He laughed the moment the aftertaste hit him.

"You're trying to poison me?" Shadow sneered, "Me? The Ultimate Life Form? You really think poison affects me at all?"

Sonic eyed him with concern, "'M not… you feeling okay, though? You need me to get a doctor?"

Shadow's face fell. He wasn't expecting concern. He squinted suspiciously at Sonic, "...This is Siren's Thrall... "

Sonic shrugged, "I think thas what Nicole said, yea. I'm sure it was a longer name though…"

"And nothing else- just the deadly poison meant to kill people… It won't make me do anything else?"

"For other people sure, but it gets me nice 'n toasty!" Sonic chuckled, "You sure you don't need a doctor?"

Shadow eyed Sonic warily, "...Where'd you get this?"

Sonic waggled his finger, "Nuh uh uh! One drink is one question…"

Shadow growled and poured himself a much smaller drink. He shot Sonic a disgusted glare after he downed it, daring him to say something about it.

Sonic gave a nervous smile instead, "Fine by me. It's good stuff, right? Sally's got a cousin that likes to make that stuff. Gave it to me for an "ngagemen" present- NSISTED I don't share with 'nybody. So you can 'magine how fun it was to take a few swigs of that and go for a complete loop-de-doo…"

Sonic's laughing petered out, "After we sat him down for a… chat… turned out he'd planned on me and Sally sharing some… and being able to blame me for her death…"

Shadow paused, feeling a small headache coming on in the back of his head. He rubbed it gingerly as he felt the weight of all the problems of that young idiot's plan, "...Seriously?"

"I know, he's not the next Eggman," Sonic explained, "But… I let him off with a warning. He makes this for me and only me and we wouldn't tell King Nigel 'bout any of it…"

"Tch… idiot."

Sonic shrugged, "It's fer the best. You said you've never been drunk?"

Shadow nodded.

"I can't either," Sonic grumbled, "Too high a metabolism. That poison's the closest I get. It's pretty nice but I only save it for special occasions."

Shadow eyed the bottle in disgust before Sonic pulled it away, "'S fine if you're scared or something. I don't mind doing all the talkin'."

Shadow pulled the bottle closer to him and poured himself another small serving. Sonic's smirk was a little more sure this time as Shadow sloshed the drink around. Rather than take a drink, however, Shadow asked, "What do you want?"

"It's about Amy…"

Shadow shot him another glare, "Gods damn it all, are you shitting me?"

"Drink or I don't answer."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Please… I don't need you to answer. Of course you want to know about Amy. Gods forbid anyone think there's anything normal about our friendship."

Shadow took a drink out of reflex and instantly regretted it- same perfumed burn that nearly made him gag. But this time he was ready, "Why do you think I care about Amy's past?"

"Come on. We know she told you about her being royal. That's interesting enough fer anyone to start sniffing… 'specially since we caught some GUN based program goin' through our files. Anything that sounded like it had to do with Amy was tapped into. Started at Christmas. Got worse after her little trip to Downtown GUN."

Shadow swore at Rouge under his breath.

"How'd you two meet?" Sonic continued

"On the Prison Island- I believe you were there for that."

"I wasn't," Sonic snarked, "And that's not what I meant. How'd you two reconnect?"

Shadow hesitated, "We… planted trees in the Mystic Ruins."

"You were planting more trees… in a jungle?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Shadow cursed, "They were destroyed."

"By who?"

"Why does that matter to you?"

Sonic stopped, his eyes taking in every inch of Shadow's face. Sonic smirked and wiggled the bug in front of it, "I want to know because I think it's important."

Shadow cursed, "I did. You happy?"

Sonic's eyes widened then narrowed, "...No you didn't."

Shadow's fists clenched and his eyes narrowed to meet his, "And?"

A discomfited look passed over Sonic's face and Shadow reveled in it. Sonic broke their stare off to sit perfectly straight against the tree again, "How many of those bugs did you plant?"

Shadow paused, "Two."

"How many did those two split into?"

"State Secret."

Sonic rolled his eyes, "How many did you plant on Amy?"

Sonic just barely caught the look of discomfort on Shadow's face before it was smoothed over with his usual grump mask, "...One."

"Where is it?"

"Destroyed."

Sonic's eyes widened, "She found it, already?"

Shadow shook his head, "I destroyed it."

"...Wait… what? Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd you destroy it?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Because it was stupid. She doesn't have anything the GUN wants- royalty or not. Anything she gets dragged into by your bullshit is a group effort. Figured it was a waste of time having it there."

"Why'd you plant it on her then?"

"Because that's my job," Shadow practically bellowed, waving his glass around menacingly, "You Freedom Fighters have no sense of checks or balances, you just do whatever you want, whenever you want, be damned the rest of the world or the consequences of your actions. Do I need to remind you 'bout that damn robot plague? Or your fucking interference on Operation Dessert Island, YES THE ONE WITH TWO S'S. And we KNOW that stupid whipped cream drought was your fault."

Shadow ignored the slurring of his voice and the mini-rant he'd just gone on. He took another sip of his drink out of reflex, "'Nd right before that stupid, "Holy Cow day… who the fuck comes up with that shit?"

Sonic's eyes were wide and he gave a small pathetic laugh, "...Can't say I know that one. I'll look it up later…"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Don't act like you're hurt. You're the one who decided this was a good idea…"

Sonic snorted, "Guess so…"

Shadow scoffed, "What do you care, anyway? Why does anyone care!? 'M sick ah getting the third fucking degree because you people can't be fucked to consider that Amy's a good enough person to want to be friends with. She's a kind, considid...erate soul who isn' afraid to tell anyone the tooth. She's strong and she just… fucking CARES and she does things 'bout it all.

"And, honessly? I don't know what's worse! People like you who think she's unworthy of basic affection or the people who think I must be some kind of vagrant for giving it to her!"

Shadow stopped dead in his tracks and he glared violently at the drink in his hand. He was about to toss it when Sonic grabbed his arm.

"Come on, dude! Kids play here…"

Shadow huffed then shoved the glass in Sonic's hand instead, "We done?"

Sonic looked at Shadow, then down at the drink in his hand, before answering, "Are you trying to be friends with Amy to figure out her past?"

Shadow snorted, "I couldn't give the least little crap about her past."

"So it wasn't you digging through her files in the castle?"

Shadow groaned, "Fucking… Rouge."

"...Because she's been giving you the third degree too?"

Shadow scoffed, "What the hell did you need to blackmail me for? Seems you know everything about everything now…"

Sonic sighed, "I thought I did. Now I owe Sally some favors…"

Sonic placed the glass next to him in the grass then folded his hands, "I still owe you a question…"

"Fuck you."

"...You're really bad at questioning people, you know that?"

Shadow growled, "Not my damn job."

Sonic's lips twitched, "Not according to Sal 'n Ames… You really care about Amy?"

Shadow paused, his face softened slightly, before shaking his head, "She's my friend."

Sonic's eyes narrowed, "Would you ever want more out of her than that?"

"...No."

"Really? Not even a little?"

"I've taken my shot."

Both Sonic and Shadow seemed shocked by that answer, with Shadow recovering first. He stumbled up onto his feet and began to stroll away, "I've had enough of this. Tell her if you want, jus' stop asking me these stupid questions."

Sonic shot up and followed Shadow, "Hold up, tiger, I get it! I'll chill with the Amy questions…"

When he caught up he placed his hands on Shadow's shoulders to stop him, "And I promise I won't tell Amy about the bugs. Heck I'll even destroy it… if… you do me a favor…"

Shadow growled, "That wasn'..."

"I promise this will be it!"

Sonic pulled out a small envelope and handed it to Shadow. He immediately recognized the scrolling handwriting and even the size of the letter, "Amy already invited me as her plus one…"

"Just open it."

Shadow eyed it suspiciously as he took it. Was it heavier than the one Amy had? Sonic watched in barely contained glee as Shadow opened the envelope to a plain white card in embossed blue hand-writing asking, "Will you be my…."

Shadow glared at Sonic, "Not 'inersted'."

"Relax, Shads, you wouldn't be our third even if you asked," Sonic deadpanned, "Now open it."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "I was going to say Valentine, but you went and made it lewd…"

He opened the card, only for confetti to explode out of the card along with some old pop song about best friends blasting out of it at full volume. He dropped it in shock then growled when he realized what the inside of the card said.

"Groomsman"

"Why the fuck?!"

"Come on Shadow! Our numbers are uneven and we need someone to be Amy's partner! I really don't want to ask anyone else…"

"Get over it, the answer's no…"

Sonic ran a hand threw his quills as Shadow stomped away, "Well… gosh Shads, I thought you cared about who would have to be at Amy's side… down the aisle... during the dinner… and the first dances…"

Shadow seemed intrigued but refused to bend. Instead he quipped, "Why the hell do I care who Amy's partner is?"

"Well, gee Shadow, if I don't have someone that's close to me, or at least close enough- I gotta start asking some of Sally's family…. The next closest our age is her cousin…

"You know… the one who made this?"

Sonic shook the bottle, slightly gleeful that Shadow had not only stopped but glared at it, "And he's been really upset about Sally marrying me instead of a blue-blood. But, you know, Amy's awful close to the throne and she's technically royalty so…"

"Enough."

Shadow's furious red met Sonic cunning green. Red narrowed at Green, "You'd never allow someone to hurt her…"

Sonic nodded, "I wouldn't let it happen… but it's my wedding. I'll be a bit busy."

Shadow grit his teeth, "... You'll pay for the suit?"

Sonic grinned and held out his hand, "Deal!"

Shadow shook it harder than he needed to, then swerved away. About ten feet away, he stopped then turned curiously back to the card.

"... You asked me all those questions thinking I was only friends with Amy for information…"

Sonic shrugged, "I was wrong…"

"That takes time," Shadow interrupted pointing at the offending pile of confetti between them, "Why would you ask me if you thought I was a threat?"

Sonic paused, an evil grin taking over now, "Easier to keep Amy safe with six of us on your ass instead of just me..."

Shadow's face barely flinched but inside he was shocked at Sonic's cut throat cunning. Sonic strolled past him and pat him on the back firmly, "Even if it's just for a few months… See you at the party, Faker~"

Shadow swerved out of the way growling in indignation. He was just about to leave when Sonic stopped and turned towards him, "For what it's worth… I think Amy cares about you a lot more than you think. Just… give her some more time…"

Shadow scoffed, "Tch… love advice? What are you, a fortune cookie?"

Sonic smirked, "Well, gosh, Shadow, I didn't say anything about love advice…"

Shadow's hair was set more on edge than usual, his teeth and fists clenched and he cursed at Sonic with a rude gesture from his hands. Sonic's only parting response was to tell him her favorite flower combination.

Shadow was left to stew in blessed silence and ignored the fact that he'd mentally noted where both daisies and roses were in his garden.


	11. What's with the Box?

**Special thanks, as always to NothinFancy for being the best beta a girl could ask for. And a special thanks to everyone for being so patient in waiting for these chapters.**

 **What's With the Box?**

"So, Amy, how have you been since your last appointment?"

Amy leaned back into the small love-seat, the cushion was soft and inviting and it was a struggle not to curl into it and take a nap. Her head leaned back forcefully, practically nuzzling against the slightly coarse white material, "Tired..."

The billy goat in front of her raised one wizened, grey eyebrow at her and asked, "Oh? Keeping busy?"

"Not busy enough," Amy grumbled as her hands found their way over her face, "Ever since Sally kicked me off...ugh, excuse me, 'put me on indefinite leave', I've had to be really creative about how I spend my time. I don't know where to even begin..."

The doctor nodded her calico speckled head, "We had a lot to go over the last two times. How have you been handling the homework I gave you?"

"It's fine. The books are helpful and the breathing techniques are... okay."

The goat chuckled, "You can tell me if you don't find the breathing techniques helpful. Many of the veterans I've spoken to don't find them as helpful. I like to prescribe it as an option. Although I'd like to see you keep practicing just in case. How about the grounding techniques?"

Amy gave a wistful smile, "I like them a lot..."

Dr. Jocasta Gruff raised an eyebrow once again, meeting Amy's whimsical smile with a teasing one of her own, "I suppose that Shadow fellow walked you through that one as well?"

Amy giggled absentmindedly but then her smile failed, "Wait... what does that mean?"

Dr. Gruff smiled and calmly replied, "Forgive me, Amy, I don't mean anything by it. I just noticed in our last session he was a very prevalent part of our talk. Our first session together had quite a few names in there but his always seemed to put that particular smile on your face. He seems to be a very positive resource for you."

Amy's face froze at that, a small blush gracing her cheeks before shaking her head, "Yea, he's... usually a great friend, I just..."

Now the doctor frowned, "Has he become a source of stress for you?"

Amy shook her head at first but then she groaned, "I mean, kind of?! I don't know... he doesn't mean anything. He's usually so straightforward but lately people have been so presumptuous about us and... WE'RE JUST FRIENDS, YOU KNOW? I mean we hang out a lot and even HE'S brought it up once and we talked through it, so don't think I haven't thought about it but..."

Amy slumped deeper into the couch and started rubbing her eyes, "You know about him by now. He's smart, funny, he's even pretty sweet in a quiet way..."

Amy then growled, swung herself off the couch and started pacing angrily, "But he's also so narrow-minded and rude and just plain MEAN sometimes. He started this big old fight with me last week over something really stupid like he just couldn't believe I could take care of myself which made me sooo mad and... now I don't know if we're even friends anymore."

The doctor gave a hum of understanding and replied, "Are you okay to walk me through that event?"

Amy paused her pacing, contemplating her options before sighing and flinging herself back onto the couch and sullenly sank into the cushion and rubbing her face with both hands, "...About a week ago he brought over flowers while I was talking to my mother..."

Amy froze mid-sentence- and began to stumble on her words, "I... uh, I mean... I know I wasn't... talking to... her specifically. I mean, I told you she was dead and...I mean I wasn't exactly talking to myself or anything, I'm not CRAZY!"

Gruff raised a brow, "Amy, there's nothing wrong with speaking to your mother at her grave, to her urn, or in the privacy of your home. I'm sure she'd love to hear about your problems and help guide you through them."

Amy groaned, relieved at having not been caught up in her lie, "Yeah... too much... I swear, everyone loves jumping down my throat half the time. Even Shadow... They just all think I'm this fragile little thing... I mean I'm a FIGHTER! Why do they all think I can't take care of myself!?"

Amy had found herself pacing angrily in the tiny office of the poor goat doctor in front of her once again, who seemed to be completely unphased by Amy's outburst. Instead the doctor adjusted her glasses and asked gently, "Let's put a pin in that train of thought for now. If you don't mind... I'd like to know what Shadow did while you were speaking to your mother that makes you question his intentions..."

Amy sighed and slumped into her seat, "It's not that, he doesn't have any intentions. It's just... well... let me start at the beginning..."

* * *

The day was perfectly sunny for early March. Flickies heralded the early spring with gusto as mobians strolled through the peaceful neighborhood near Castle Acorn amid the swirl of falling tree blossoms.

The only exception, as per usual, was the quaint and seemingly unassuming pink cottage with a blossoming garden. The locals knew to avoid this particular house, even when it was seemingly quiet; especially so, in most cases.

 **["Your neighbors are afraid of your house?" Dr. Gruff asked.**

 **"I mean..." Amy scratched near her ear nervously, "Kind of? They know I'm a freedom fighter and when I moved in a while ago I made it pretty clear my home was my sanctuary... I may have been a little insistent then..."**

 **The doctor took more notes then nodded for Amy to continue]**

Today the cottage spewed ash-like dust out of every opening as though a demon had taken residence. Not an entirely untrue assumption as one could see glimpses of the pink Freedom Fighter herself dashing through the cottage with the fury of any great monster one could read about from myths of old.

Inside the house, Amy Rose was in spring cleaning mode. Every surface dusted; all of the walls, baseboards and corners washed and marked for repainting later; all the windows cleaned and replaced since Shadow had blown one out a couple months ago; every bit of the floor swept, vacuumed and mopped to perfection- even the basement...

Amy took a minute to marvel at her handy-work. Her breath was about as ragged as she looked- a red tank top was lightly coated in dust and had visible sweat spots. Her white cargo capri pants were stained with the same dirt and black smudges that speckled across her fur. Her eyes were manic- darting back and forth over the landscape searching for any rebellious dirt or dust bunny. Her crazed smile eased after a solid minute of sitting this way. This peace lasted for all of a second before her green eyes grew wide and her whole body stiffened. A snarl played on her lips as her eyes and ears zoned in on the closet to her left. Her breathing got heavier as she imagined the pull down ladder that led to the tiny crawl space in her ceiling. Before she knew it she found herself pulling the cord to bring it down. Just as she was about to climb up to it she shook her head and growled. She slammed the door behind her and began the mad scramble again.

"I haven't gone through my stuff yet," she ground out, "I just need to do a bit of organizing!"

She glared back at the closet and sneered before flouncing away to her bedroom. She spent the next hour clearing out her bedroom of old sheets, clothes, and towels that she deemed donation worthy. When that hour was up...

She found herself half-way up the ladder before she stopped with a screech and flew down the ladder again. This time her eyes zeroed in on the rug she'd just bought a few days ago for her living room.

"Messy, messy..."

She searched frantically for so much as a stray bit of dust on her immaculate rug before she gave up with a groan and ran out to her garden to do some weeding.

It took less than ten minutes of that before she had reluctantly made her way into the crawl space pulling at the dusty old chest in there. This time Amy's eyes glistened with frustrated tears as she clenched her jaw. Even as she glared daggers at this ebony chest, her fingers gently caressed it's gold fixtures, shining even in the dusty darkness. Amy looked away and tried a breathing exercise her new therapist had just shown her. She whispered a short mantra under her breath, "I'm worth more than her words. There's no point in talking to her. I know this is going to end badly. I'm worth more than her words." In spite of this, she couldn't bring herself to let go. She groaned, even as her thumb grazed ornate initials carved into the wood. The letters curved around a golden disk just about the same size as her hand. Etched into the gold was a sigil- black wings furled over a chaos emerald with a crown above it...

She knew how this would end. She'd tried. She'd tried this so many times over the years...

It was never enough.

The same persistent ache in her heart that told her to try again anyway.

 **[The goat grunted in affirmation, "Sometimes, a woman just needs to speak with her mother..." Amy's eyes fell and she rubbed her hands together gently and nervously, "...Sure."]**

She opened the chest, tentatively. A swirl of black and gold dust seeped out of the cracks of the chest and pushed the lid open completely. The shape it took looked not unlike an ominous swarm of flies congregated in the vague shape of a woman. She could **["PRACTICALLY!" Amy insisted]** hear the woman's booming voice explode from the box.

" _ **MY LITTLE HERB!" the voice cried out, "It's been an AGE! Where on MOBIUS have you been!? Why do I not hear from you, my child?**_ "

"I've... been a bit busy with work," Amy replied shortly, "I've... had a lot to deal with on my end..."

" ** _Yes, yes, that mustachioed lunatic, Ovum Maniac or whatever it is you call him out there_** ," the voice tutted, " ** _Now then, how have your lessons at the palace been going? I understand they're barbarians out there but King Nigel would hardly neglect your studies..._** "

"I haven't had any since I was 16..." Amy argued, "You know... when I graduated into an official Freedom Fighter? We talked about this."

" _ **Don't argue with me, my herb, NOW!**_ " She clapped her hands smartly, " ** _Show me a bit of magic! Come now, child I expect you to have been practicing_**!"

"But I..."

 ** _"MAGIC! DARLING, IDIOT GRACIOUS CHILD, NOW!"_**

 **["Magic?" Dr. Gruff asked.**

 **"Chaos energy," Amy sighed, "All hedgehogs have some connection to chaos energy... Except for me."**

 **Dr. Gruff took some notes before commenting, "Forgive me for saying so... but your mother doesn't seem to be particularly supportive of your lack of connection to this, chaos energy."**

 **"She's not," Amy affirmed, "My mom, especially, has always been a bit... crazy about it and... I've never been able to get her off my back about it."**

 **Amy rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively, "Anyway, I tried again and I couldn't do anything so my mom was just being a brat and that's when Shadow came in..."]**

 ** _"...NOT EVEN THE TINIEST HINT OF MAGIC! ARE YOU EVEN TRYING!?"_**

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS A STUPID IDEA!" Amy screamed back.

 ** _"DON'T YOU TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME!"_**

"You know it's a stupid idea but you insist on this being a thing every time and you always act so surprised when I can't do it! Do you even pay attention!?"

 ** _"IMPUDENT CHILD, I SAID YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME THAT..."_**

Both of them fell silent when they heard the sound of the front door crashing open. The unmistakable sound of wood splintering froze the swirl of Amy's mother and made them quiver. Amy, however, jumped into action. She scrambled to shut the lid on the chest and sat on it as her mother fought to escape the chest.

 **["Seemed to!" Amy insisted nervously, "You know, he scared me just barreling into my house like that..."]**

And there Shadow stood, flowers in hand, a fierce snarl locked on his lips, ready to take down anyone in his path. When he realized the only opponent was Amy, he swung his head back and forth, "What happened?"

"...Happened?"

"Don't play coy with me, Rose, I heard yelling from a voice that wasn't yours."

Amy rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, Shadow I was just... having some trouble with this... old box."

She slapped the lid beneath her slightly too hard, but she felt no retaliation. Her mother was gone and she was left to deal with the mess, as per usual.

Shadow straightened up, glowering skeptically at both Amy and the chest, "Oh?"

Amy laughed nervously as her ears folded back, "Just, uh... cleaning my house. Gonna clean out my crawl space up there. What are you doing here?"

Shadows eyes narrowed and fixed on the box. He strolled forward towards Amy and the box and roughly handed her the flowers, "Running errands for His Majesty, King Sonic the Pain-in-My-Tail. These are for you. Where'd you get this?"

Amy nearly fell back from the force of the flowers hitting her face. She huffed in indignation as Shadow continued to eye the chest, "Oh how sweet, my favorites," she retorted sarcastically, "You really shouldn't have."

Shadow humphed briefly in response before running his hands over the disk, "I've seen this before... where have I seen this before..."

Amy paled and quickly started shoving the chest back towards the ladder, "OKAY! You said you had errands to run and I respect that! Me too! Mind putting these in some water while I..."

Shadow slammed his hand down on the chest and stared Amy down. Amy, for her part, was struck by the intensity of his gaze, just enough to forget for just the tiniest moment that he was holding her back and keeping her locked in place. It was just long enough a moment for Shadow to ask, "What's with the box?"

Amy, remembering herself growled back, "It's none of your business."

"There's chaos energy coming out of this," he argued, "And you were just screaming at it. What's with the box?"

"That's. Classified," Amy emphasized through gritted teeth and a forced smile, "Just let me put this away and..."

"What aren't you telling me?"

Amy flinched, as though she'd been slapped as Shadow looked on with narrowed and concerned eyes. For a moment they looked so much like Sally's...

...Like Sonic's.

"I'm allowed to keep my secrets," Amy snarled, "Same as you. Now let. Go. And. Let me. Handle. This."

Amy yelped as she felt Shadow turn around and hauled the chest away from her towards the door. Amy's eyes widened in shock and betrayal before she lunged for the other handle and pulled them both back, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Shadow only growled in response, "I'm taking this with me to the G.U.N."

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" Amy cried as she pulled back, "What are they gonna do!?"

"They are going to figure out what this _thing_ is," Shadow snapped back at her, "They'll lock it away and make sure it doesn't hurt you again."

"It doesn't hurt me!" Amy cried, "I'm fine! Why don't you believe me!?"

"Because you were _screaming_!" Shadow roared, "I thought you were in danger! What else am I supposed to think?"

"I need you to think that you can trust me to handle whatever the heck I need to and to butt out when I ask you too!"

"So I'm just supposed to ignore you when you're in crisis?" he asked incredulously as he struggled against Amy's strength, "You're telling me I'm supposed to walk away when I hear something going wrong?!"

"I'M NOT IN CRISIS," Amy screamed desperately, grasping the handle with both hands almost in a pleading motion. She ignored the tears streaming from her eyes, hating the fact that Shadow had brought her to this. She was angered still further by the fact that Shadow seemed unaffected by her tears, "Nothing was going wrong! And even if it was, this isn't the way for you to 'save me'! I'm not some Damsel in Distress for you to sweep off your feet and make everything better!"

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW?!" Shadow exploded, swinging his arm out in an exaggerated 'what' sign, "I'm your friend, I care! What difference does it make if I'm your keeper or not, YOU NEED _HELP_!"

"Because even after everything we've been through together, after everything you promised me, you're treating me like some burden you have to rescue just like everyone else. YOU'RE ACTING JUST LIKE SONIC!"

Shadow's eyes widened, his shoulders and head twitched back as though he'd been slapped. His hand went limp and slipped off the handle of the chest. Amy couldn't help but feel a perverse sense of satisfaction in how hurt Shadow looked in that moment.

The feeling of dread that followed dragged her kicking and screaming back to reality.

Despite this - hell, because of this, she strode forward and put the bouquet of the most beautiful, tiny pink roses with delicate little daisies in between, and firmly shoved them in Shadow's hands, "You need to leave."

Shadow stared at the roses, the shock shifting in his eyes as they roamed between the roses, Amy, and the box. This time the pain reflecting in ruby eyes broke her heart. She nearly reached out to him before she saw his eyes close, his shoulders square, and he took 2 deep, slow breaths. When he opened his eyes, Amy wasn't sure which was worse, the resolve in his eyes or the wall they'd just both thrown up between the two of them. The shadow of that wall drew over his eyes and brought tears to hers as he turned away and replied in a monotone voice,

"Fine."

* * *

"Then he left," Amy murmured, "And I haven't heard a peep from him since."

Amy was now laid completely across the couch, one foot on the cushion and the other dangling off the edge, swinging up and down forlornly as she finished her tale. The silence that permeated the room was only punctuated by the scratch of the pen in Dr. Gruff's hand. Amy waited anxiously for her to stop writing and say something but despite her anticipation, she actually flinched when she heard the pen stop and the old goat hum in thought.

"I can see why you feel conflicted about him," she commented, "I understand his perspective in this. If I heard what sounded like my friend in distress I would do anything I needed to in order to help them, especially break down a door and eliminate what was distressing them..."

Amy nodded at this and she wiped the tears off the edges of her eyes, "So... I should apologize, right? I went too far..."

Dr. Gruff hummed again in contemplation, "If you feel that would help your healing process, I would... endorse it. However, if I may point something out?"

Amy frowned in confusion and turned towards the doctor, swinging her legs out to hit the floor and setting her back straight in rapt attention. It was only when she nodded at her to continue did Dr. Jocasta Gruff speak.

"I also understand why you were angry. You were in the safety of your home, speaking to a mother that, forgive me for reaching here, but I assume you had a rather complicated relationship with?"

Amy's eyes fell in shame, but nodded all the same.

"You were working through something, alone. You very clearly needed your space. Was it hard? Painful even? Undoubtedly. In spite of his feelings to the contrary you made it very clear multiple times that you were handling it and were in no need of any assistance. He ignored that in order to assuage his own worries for you...

"Which makes me rather curious... is he also a soldier?"

Amy's eyes narrowed in confusion. When she nodded, the goat hummed again, "I thought as much... your friends too I imagine... you told me you joined the fighting as a child..."

Amy shrugged defensively, "We all were. What difference does that make?"

Dr. Gruff's eyes lowered this time, a dark shadow passing over her dusty brown eyes, "Sad to admit, but not very much."

She set her paper down and adjusted herself in her seat, "Make no mistake, every experience from every soldier I've treated, has some unique twist brought about by their individual histories and personalities. But they all faced the scourge that is Dr. Eggman. They've all faced some semblance of his tyranny, unyielding might, and unspeakable cruelty. It's the oldest ones that sting the most, though. I feel their particular shame at having to share such a long, grueling fight with the younger generation.

"You asked me earlier why your peers can't seem to see beyond your very understandable vulnerability?" The doctor pointed out, "It's because the fight you joined was too much to handle for them and they compromised their moral codes to allow a child to fight in a Great War against a monster they couldn't quite snuff out alone. A child who had to fight to grow stronger, faster, and more clever than her enemies. You describe your peers as more talented- I suspect they were much like you when they started. Clawing their way to becoming better warriors, be it for their people, their personal glory, or vengeance. For such a sacrifice that takes insurmountable courage, indescribable determination...

"And so very many mistakes... and mistakes cost lives in this profession."

Amy's mind flashed back to Shadow crying out in his sleep. He'd called out for her... and someone named Maria...

Her mind shifted once again to the Ark incident so many years ago- to the video of Professor Gerald, and his broken, crazed voice describing his loss and despair.

She remembered his pain as she begged for him to join the side of good. She remembered all the damage that'd been done after the fact. She remembered the damage he'd wrought when he fought with the Black Arms aliens. The Sol emerald incident. The zombot plague. So very many mistakes...

"He hadn't been alone for some of that but... he was for most of that," Amy thought, "Is he trying to protect me from going the same way he did?"

Amy leaned back gingerly, soaking in the revelations of the moment. Then, a feeling of dread spread through her heart, "I... don't know if I can accept what they did, though."

"As you shouldn't."

Amy's head shook in disbelief, "What?"

"You are correct," she reaffirmed, "It doesn't make much of a difference in the end. You've been a soldier for so long, that trying to protect you from harm now is a bit silly- even detrimental to your mental health. How they feel does not excuse them stepping over the boundaries you set up for your own well being. That doesn't excuse wanton destruction of your home, the theft of your property to surrender to government entities, especially when they are the ashes of your late mother. Their healing journeys are no more important than yours. You making yourself heard and understood by all parties, not just Shadow, about your needs is one of the most important facets of any healthy relationship, platonic or otherwise. It requires a sense of respect for yourself and for others. Insisting on encroaching on boundaries for the sake of others that don't involve life or death situations does not a respectful, healthy relationship make."

"...Yeah..."

Amy stood up, fists and teeth clenched with a fire of righteous fury and resolve burning through her, "You're right! I should go give him a piece of my mind right now!"

As she stomped away towards the door, a determined smile spread over her face, "I'm gonna march right up to him and tell him to kick sand! I'm never seeing his stupid, smug, selfish…"

Amy's pace slowed to a halt. Her voice died in her throat and her hand hovered over the door knob. Tears welled up in her eyes and her shoulders slumped. She heard the shuffle of Dr. Gruff's chair behind her and when she turned to see what she was doing, she found the old goat in front of her, gently handing her a tissue.

"How do you feel right now?"

Amy sniffled and the tears fell but her voice was incredulous at this question, "How do I feel?! I feel awful! He's my friend! He was sooo honest, like way too honest. I don't know anyone else who would be so upfront about just taking my mom's ashes."

She sat heavily on the couch, "We've been through so much together… He was the one who found me after I found out about Sonic's engagement, he's the one who took care of me when I was sick, when I was being shot at, when I had my break down. Heck, he's the one who told me to go find some help! He even recommended me to you. And through it all he had enough respect to just be honest with me. He trusted me, and I trusted him so…

Amy rubbed her eyes and reached for another tissue, "So… I just wanna know when that changed…"

Dr. Gruff hummed then nodded, "I think those are very good points to bring up to him. Do you think having that discussion with him would be productive?"

"...I really, really hope so," Amy murmured, "But… I haven't spoken to him in over a week. How do we even start this conversation?"

Dr. Gruff smiled, "In my experience a letter is the best option. It helps you get your thoughts in order, makes it easier to edit, and gives him the option of approaching your thoughts however he sees fit."

"However he sees… you mean… like if he decided he doesn't want to be friends anymore?"

The doctor hummed, "He has a right to his own boundaries as well. Should he accept your needs wholeheartedly, not at all or somewhere in between, it may be prudent for you to be prepared for each reaction."

Amy's heart thumped painfully at this. Her eyes shifted as she weighed her options. Then she took two very deep breaths and sat back down onto the couch.

"...Do you think we could draft something up really quickly? I... I want to try to salvage this as best as I can..."

Dr. Gruff nodded with a satisfied hum, pulled out some paper, "And I would be happy to walk you through that. We have just enough time to make a rough draft."


	12. Say It

_**Again, a super special awesome thanks to NothinFancy for being a gat dang good beta!**_

 ** _Say It_**

"So she wrote you a letter... telling you she was ready to talk?" Rouge asked scornfully.

Shadow didn't say anything, instead his eyes remained fixated on the notebook paper with swirling handwriting in his hand. His silence in the past would've been a typical response from the ebony agent, but recently it had become the norm for him to jump to Amy's defense; especially from Rouge. After what happened last week, it made perfect sense that Amy would reach out via snail mail.

However…

Today - this whole week, in fact - he'd been too hurt, too angry, too **worried** to be reasonable or fair.

He was in Rouge's apartment, sitting on her brand new couch- which was entirely black with a blocky hyper-modern look to it. He shifted awkwardly on it, remembering why it was so brand new in the first place. He hated to admit but he had no other choice but to come back. For all that Rouge distrusted Amy, he knew she would have the best idea of how to address this letter and assuage his fears.

Of course he didn't have anyone else he could turn to, but that was beside the point. Omega just didn't have the emotional capacity to handle what was going on and… did he have anyone else?

Ah, yes, Amy herself.

He'd been hesitant at first with sharing his issue with her, but he found he couldn't stop himself once started. He'd told Rouge everything that had transpired in the last week, and when he was finished she'd reacted in the exact way he had predicted. Head resting on his fist, he wore an angry scowl on his face as he stared at the offending letter in his hands. Barely a paragraph long, it said,

 _Shadow,_

 _Please meet me at the grove we planted in the Mystic Ruins on Saturday around 5. I really need to talk to you about what happened at my house. I want you to know that I still want us to be friends. I still care about you and want to hear your side of things. But we also need to talk about some new boundaries._

 _Your friend, I hope,_

 _Amy Rose_

"Less than an hour," he murmured, heart pounding and eyes shifting over the paper as though some unnoticed, divine meaning would reveal itself between the lines. Granted, he knew exactly what he'd done wrong. From her perspective what he'd done was not only a huge invasion of privacy but outright theft.

"I'm a government agent, though, what else could she expect?!" he thought angrily. He could feel the sneer on his face deepening, "She's clearly in danger and she either has no earthly idea of how much or she doesn't care!"

He wasn't sure which option terrified him more.

So it was something of a comfort to come to Rouge before the meeting was set to take place- if only to go over what information he had and at least try to get his thoughts in order. He imagined for some, having Rouge's cold aqua eyes staring at you from behind while you contemplated your deepest worries for someone you lo... cared for... wouldn't be helpful. For him, however...

It was nice to know someone was watching his back.

"She didn't think this through," Rouge said contemptuously under her breath, "You barely got this this morning..."

"And I assume the Commander will want to know details about what the hell she's talking about?" Shadow asked, his voice short and deliberate, entirely in his control.

"Not unless you want him too," Rouge gave a cheeky smile, "Even if he did all I have to tell him is a story about you two... dancing together."

Shadow shot her a deeply affronted look, "Seriously?!"

Rouge, unphased by his temper, merely shrugged, "What? It gets him off your back with no further questions."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but the G.U.N has a bad habit of taking people I lo... care about and putting them in positions where they're six feet under, if they're lucky."

Rouge eyes fell, almost in shame, "A decent point... for sixty years ago; maybe even eight years ago. Now you're an established G.U.N agent and she's a very high ranking Freedom Fighter, not to mention a personal ward of the Acorn family. Even without all that she's protected well enough from the G.U.N by her strength alone."

She smirked, "Maybe not against Team Dark, but she would give us a run for our money at least."

Shadow glared down her attempt at levity which made her eyes roll and add, "I'm not worried about any attack coming from us. If there is, you'll be the first to know from me..."

She began slowly pacing around her table, a tight yet smug smile on her face, "Not that he has any clue about this yet. You're lucky I'm the one who caught this rather than one of the other mail sifters. You should really warn her about this..."

Shadow scoffed, "Right, because she already has such a high opinion of the G.U.N. Telling her that they check all my mail will really help gain her trust."

Rouge paused her pacing and looked up to her chandelier, "You probably should- rather than her finding out the hard way..."

Shadow's eyes narrowed at this, "Hmph..."

Now Rouge fixed him with her own glare, "What's your goal here?"

Shadow paused, not that he needed to think about it, it seemed rather obvious what he wanted out of this. He could still hear Sonic's stupid voice telling him about his would-be killer. Amy's open sobbing during her mental breakdown. Those dark, dusty and yet inky bits of energy slithering around the maw of an open chest…

"I want her to take her safety more seriously. She doesn't understand the danger she's in… and I need her to let me help keep her safe."

He growled in frustration and stood abruptly. Now it was his turn to pace around the small living room, , "That screaming chest she has emits a powerful amount of chaos energy. It's unlike anything I've ever felt."

Rouge's eyes widened, "More powerful than all seven chaos emeralds?"

Shadow scoffed, "Hardly. It's not even close to the power of a single chaos emerald."

Rouge raised an eyebrow, "So what's got you so rattled?"

Shadow rested his hand against the couch and stared up at the chandelier above him. He stayed that way for a minute, allowing the moment of silence to clear his thoughts. He wasn't sure how much he wanted to share, how much was relevant and how much was his own imagination. Finally he said, "It was much more direct; concentrated. Chaos energy always feels like you're trying to grab a cloud of steam in your hands. You can always catch a bit of it but there's more out there to grab if you need to. This felt much more condensed and tamed- like water or thread."

Rouge tapped her chin at that one. Shadow almost smiled as he finally saw Rouge was taking him seriously. She had the look of a woman who was running a thousand different scenarios in her mind at once- ascertaining victories for each one.

He was only mildly disappointed when Rouge sat gracefully at the glass dining table near the living area and moved on to her next question, "You said it had an insignia carved into the gold on its front?"

"A chaos emerald with black wings and a crown floating over it all," he answered, "And the letters MDAG under that, carved into the wood."

Rouge frowned at this, "Isn't she a hedgehog? Shouldn't she be able to use chaos energy?"

Shadow shook his head, "Not that I've seen. Her strength is impressive, but I've never seen her wield chaos energy before. I have no idea if anyone else knows about this chest or why she's keeping it. I can't imagine anyone else would allow her to keep it if they knew about it.

His frown intensified, "Not that anyone else cares. Sonic flaunted her safety from his cousin-in-law in my face during our talk..."

Rouge languidly lifted a folder from the table, "Lockley Acorn? In his defense he doesn't seem to be anything to worry about. He has no prior known associations with any troubling entities-"

"Save for the fool who gave him that poison Sonic loves so much," Shadow argued.

Rouge nodded to concede the point, "If he didn't make it himself. In any case, he was in hiding for the duration of Eggman's occupation of the Acorn Kingdom and well beyond the establishment of the New Kingdom, which tells me he's most likely not in cahoots with the good doctor. He seems fine to me, if a bit spineless."

She tossed the file back onto the table with a mournful sigh, "He'd be a decent asset if he wasn't so stupid as well."

Shadow's ears twitched in annoyance, "Wouldn't that normally be a good thing?"

Rouge shrugged, "Naive is fine. Stupid makes things difficult and gives me a headache. Not that we need to so long as we still have those last three Mantis Knights."

Shadow's heart almost stopped, but his mind began to race, "The Mantis Knights..."

Rouge's eyes widened, a sharp panicked tone laced through her voice, "Shadow, sweety..."

Shadow's back suddenly straightened and he turned towards Rouge almost manically, "Get me one."

"No."

Shadow's fists clenched and he ground out through his teeth, "Why the hell not?"

"Hon, she wants to tell you off for invading her privacy," Rouge pointed out, "Let's be clear on that point. You destroyed her Mantis Knight specifically because you thought it was a pointless invasion of her privacy. But because Sonic got under your skin and, let's be frank about this, _played you_ , suddenly it's a good idea to spy on her?"

"You had no problem with it before," Shadow countered, "Now that she's in real danger, suddenly it's not okay?"

"Because you're being over protective in the worst way and it's going to push her away," Rouge argued, "Look, I'm not her biggest fan, but she makes you happy and I can swallow my pride a bit for that. But you're starting to sound like a white knight- a _misguided_ knight, may I add- and it sounds gross coming from you."

"Tch... you're making it sound like it's a bad thing to care," Shadow waved his hand at her dismissively while walking towards the door, "Fine. Don't help me. I'll do it myself..."

Rouge's eyes widened and she sprang from her seat and blocked Shadow's path, "Are you crazy!? You're not going to be able to sneak an extra mantis knight out of Snively's office without making some noise."

"If it means protecting her, then I don't care," he moved to go around her and grew more frustrated as she moved to block him again and again, even as he began to teleport out of her way, "You can ignore that thing she has in her house all you like, but that won't change the fact that she's in danger and I'm not going to just stand there and let it happen!"

"UGH!" she swerved into his path again, "I swear, Shadow, you were just telling me you didn't want the G.U.N's attention on her! Why on Mobius would you want to draw that kind of attention to her by proving to everyone that you're willing to compromise your job for her?"

Shadow froze at that then shot her with his famous glare, "I haven't compromised anything."

Rouge placed her hand over her eyes and the other on her hip. She then took a deep breath and a brow rose skeptically, "Really? You're about to steal government property for the sake of your little pink princess. The same one you brought a pizza to while she was under interrogation? And **_everyone_** saw that. Don't tell me you are stupid enough to not see the conclusion that the higher ups will come to."

Shadow's fists clenched and he felt his frown intensify- he hated it when she was right. Still, his eyes fell, and his brain ticked away, "...It doesn't change anything. I need to find a way to protect her if… if she decides I need to give her space. And at the very least, I need to find out where I've seen that symbol before..."

Shadow folded his arms over his chest stubbornly as Rouge's hands clenched on her hips. They stared each other down for what felt like forever before Rouge let out a long, drawn out sigh, "...How about a compromise?"

Shadow raised a brow at her but refused to budge, "Say it- you know I'm right."

"Let me figure out what that symbol is," Rouge continued in a measured tone, ignoring his challenge, "If I find out what it is and we _both_ agree it's something we need to keep a close eye on, I'll get you that Mantis Knight."

Shadow frowned, "And my other concerns...?"

"Are barely concerns at all," Rouge argued, "The only thing I'm worried about is that box and only because Chaos energy's involved."

She held out her hand, "That's the best I can do. Take it or leave it."

Shadow stared down his nose at her hand but knew that that was the best he was going to get. He held out his hand and shook hers gently, despite the near panic bubbling away in his stomach, "You have one week."

He heard an alarm go off in his pocket and his anxiety nearly bubbled over enough to get him to flinch. He grabbed his phone and checked the screen, "Ten minutes left... I better head over."

Shadow pulled his teleportation ring out of his pocket, took a deep breath and activated it. It spun and after a second of charging showed a clear picture of the Mystic Ruins in the late afternoon. With one more deep breath he stepped deliberately into the portal, eyes forward and shoulders squared.

The cool spring air helped still his thoughts and soften his features. The grove was filled with still rather unimpressive saplings at this point. However, the branches had grown thicker and the foliage was a deeper, darker green than he remembered. He moved forward to fuss with one particular sapling that looked like it was leaning a bit too much to the left. He grumbled under his breath as he tried to figure out how the hell he was going to fashion a tree stake without being late to meet Amy.

"Hey Shadow!"

He nearly jumped out of his skin and instantly turned around,ready for a fight when he saw one Amy fucking Rose behind him, waving frantically at him.

"Sorry! Sorry! You're okay!" she said gently, her hands up showing nothing but her lacy gloves, "It's just me."

Shadow's ears folded back in annoyance but he otherwise regained his composure and hastily put on the mask of someone far calmer than they were. He nodded his acknowledgement and took a moment to just take her in.

She seemed every bit as nervous as he felt. It hurt and even irked him to find her in that same position. Her shoulders were slightly hunched, hiding the intricate gold embroidery along her violet shirt. White shorts were barely long enough to peek from beneath the tunic length t shirt she had on. Shadow looked on at this both unimpressed and with a tinge of worry. The only thing she'd brought that was even remotely appropriate for a meeting in the jungle was her hiking boots.

"Do you have a jacket?" he asked.

"...Uh, no. Why, are you cold?" she asked, immediately concerned herself, "I can run home and grab one if you need one! I didn't think you got cold, I mean I've seen you fight in way colder weather than this. Am I talking too loud? I'm sorry, I'm gonna go grab your jacket now..."

As she turned away Shadow lunged for her arm and got her by the hand in a gentle but insistent swipe of his hand, "Wait!"

Amy's fur on her arm rose at his touch and Shadow couldn't stop the same from happening to his fur as well. They both stared at the offending appendages before Shadow gently released her, "I... I'm not cold. I'm more worried about you."

Amy blushed and her hand found it's way to her mouth, "OH! Okay. No I'm totally fine. This is perfect weather for me actually."

"If you insist," Shadow murmured skeptically.

The moment slipped into awkward silence as the two of them fought internally for how to proceed. It was Amy that rescued them as she played with her hair, "So... what were you trying to do earlier? To that tree?"

Shadow flinched slightly but quickly regained his composure, "I... it's leaning too far. If we leave it, it'll get shadowed by the others and lose the light. It won't happen for years but it's better to correct it now than let it go until it's too late..."

Amy raised a brow at him skeptically, "O...kay. I mean I've seen more crooked trees out here that grew just fine... is it really that big of a deal?"

Shadow's eye twitched, "Yes, it could be fine, but these are our responsibility and we should treat them as such."

Now Amy's brow was furrowed, "I'm not saying it's not. I'm saying it shouldn't be that big of a deal if it's a _little_ crooked."

"It might be now," Shadow argued through gritted teeth, "But in a few years when all the others are grown and competing for the light, _this one_ is going to be stuck in the dark and it'll die."

"Do you know that for sure?" Amy countered with clenched fists, "Or are you just being a _little_ _too_ paranoid?"

" _I'm not paranoid_ ," Shadow's voice was starting to rise, "I've seen it happen to other trees and you're the one who isn't taking this seriously enough!"

" **I'm not taking this seriously**?!" Amy roared, "I planted those trees, same as you! Are you saying I just don't care?"

"That's _not_ what I..."

"Like I'm just prancing through life like everything's gonna be hunky-dory if I just _believe_ hard enough?"Amy swung her hands together, interlacing the hands as though she were praying, holding it by her face with exaggerated googly eyes. It was a precious pose that couldn't fool anyone if it tried, "Well, news flash, Shadow! Just because I don't have big booming nursery business doesn't mean I don't know a thing about trees! I've been doing my research and I've been here taking care of them too!"

" **Would you stop putting words in my mouth!? That's not what I said!** "

"Then tell me what you're trying to say, huh!?" Amy screeched as tears started forming around the rims of her eyes, "Just SAY IT! Tell me what you're really thinking right now!"

"You're being entirely too lackadaisical about the situation around you and it's going to get you **killed** ," Shadow roared, "HOW in CHAOS' name am I the only one that sees the damn writing on the wall around you!?"

Amy flinched and the storm in her eyes only grew to meet his, "What the absolute heck are you talking about?! We're talking about trees!"

"Bullshit, we both know that's not what this was about," Shadow insisted, "That _thing_ in your house is dangerous and the fact that you insist on treating it like it's not a problem is utterly ridiculous. Even worse, you're treating me as though _I'm_ the problem for pointing it out and giving a solution."

Amy's eyes fluttered in confusion before giving an angry groan, "It's a chest, Shadow, not Pandora's freaking box. I can handle it. And the fact that you don't trust me to handle it so beyond obnoxious and infuriating!"

"How the ever-loving hell are you handling it?!", now Shadow started pacing madly around the tree, "I don't know if you can see chaos energy but I can! The shit, that was simmering in that damn trunk of horrors you have in your house, is not natural. How are you not able to feel that it was **_wrapped around you_**? I know you're not stupid enough to believe that it isn't dangerous, and yet you're telling me its fine. What the hell else am I supposed to believe, except that you are in danger and that you can't do anything about it?!"

Her eyes widened and he was sadistically gleeful at leaving her speechless, her jaw dropped in shock.

So he kept going, "I wanted to take that thing away from you so it wouldn't be able to touch you again. If that makes me like that Blue Idiot then fuck it. Here I am your knight in shining gods-damned armor ready to keep you from getting yourself killed like last..."

Shadow stopped himself but he knew it was too late. His face and body froze in horror over what he'd almost said. The silence in the woods around him was deafening and he realized in his anger he wasn't even facing her. His ears fell back and he slowly turned to her as he heard her shuffling, "I'm... so sorry... I didn't..."

Amy was in front of him before he could blink, but there was no anger in her eyes. Just a determination that he was not expecting, "You can see it?"

Shadow's eyes widened. His mind was going too slow to be able to keep up. Had she not heard him, "Wh... What?"

Amy scoffed and rolled her eyes, "The _magic_. Or chaos energy. Whatever you want to call it, _you can see it_?!"

Shadow searched her face for any traces of anger. He found none, nothing but bright, desperate hope. He couldn't believe his luck, she hadn't heard what he was going to say,"...Yes."

Now it was Amy's turn to search his face and it seemed all she saw was good. As wrong as he felt in the moment, it was a relief to see her green eyes so bright. For the first time in a week, Shadow saw something that actually put his mind at ease. It was the look of someone with a million thoughts in their mind going all at once being sifted and sorted into viable plans of action. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief- he hadn't seen that look on her face since she handled and led the mall shooting incident...

"No," he thought, "It had to be sooner than that. I've seen it when she was at the court of Soleanna... the time we were in the interrogation room together... there was that time on the cliff where we spoke about our potential, ugh, romance... even during her break down on the Egg Centipede..."

Even now she babbled as she lunged for a hug, "Gods, I'm so happy! This makes things so much easier! I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate that stupid thing in my house. I haven't even been able to talk to anyone else about it. But you know about it now! I mean I still can't talk too much about it, but-!"

"...Oh..." he thought lamely as she babbled on in the background, "She... knew what she was up against. She always has."

The guilt began to weigh heavier on his heart as he realized what he'd done. As she began to shine brighter with every new option suddenly open to her, Shadow's mind reeled with the reality that he could have very likely made things worse for her if he had insisted on taking that _thing_ with him to the G.U.N. When had he forgotten that she was a warrior too?

Finally Amy released Shadow with a brilliant grin that seemed to punch a hole through his stomach, "This is perfect! I'll have to..."

Her face fell at the sight of him and Shadow forced himself to stand straighter and _face her dammit_. Amy, for her part, seemed wholly unconvinced. She approached him so very gently that Shadow couldn't help but breathe in sharply, "Shadow... are you okay? What's wrong?"

Now her hands here on his cheeks and it felt so nice. Too nice. It was too much and Shadow's head tilted down and away from her, "...I'm fi..."

"Don't say you're fine," she chastised, "'Cause you're not. Talk to me... that's why we were here in the first place, right? To talk?"

Shadow's eyes closed in shame, but he did straighten his slump and looked her in the eye, "Are you... able to tell me what that thing is?"

Amy's eyes widened and Shadow was horrified to see a small string of energy floating ominously around her throat. Had it been there that whole time? How had he not seen it!? He refused to move as her eyes shifted then faced him with a small smirk, "I can tell you that... it's a chest... and that my mother gave it to me... when I left."

The string loosened and disappeared, much to his relief. In spite of that, Shadow could feel his heart in his throat and the next question came tumbling out before he could stop it, "Did I make it worse?"

Amy squinted uncomfortably and she made a small hissing sound, "Kinda? Just a little. You didn't know what you were doing. I mean..."

Her hands moved down to his shoulders and she grasped them firmly, "Who the heck expects magic out here, anyway? But it's okay! You can see it! And maybe you can help me with something later to make it up to me!"

She shook him jovially with another bright smile to try to get him to match her. Instead she was faced with another guilty look that he couldn't quite bring himself to wipe away. This time she grabbed him by the hand and guided him closer to the base of the cliffside.

"Come on... let's have a seat."

As she plopped down into the loamy soil, Shadow couldn't help but shoot her a more worried look, "You're not afraid of your clothes...?"

Amy snorted and waved her hand dismissively, "It's fine. These shorts have seen better days."

Shadow took a closer look and realized they were indeed thoroughly dulled out and frayed. On even closer inspection her shirt was stained in odd places and there was an undone seam along the neck and hem. Shame at his earlier thoughts nearly choked him. Of course she'd given a little thought about what she would wear to the jungle- why the hell wouldn't she?

He sat heavily next to her and wondered how the hell he'd come to the conclusion that she was so fantastically stupid. Or vapid. Or any other number of words he couldn't quite think of at the moment.

Amy nudged him gently from the side to bring his train of thought back home, "So what's the matter, Shadow? Why are you so afraid for me all of a sudden?"

Shadow shot her a dumbfounded look, "You have an abomination of a box in your house that you won't let me get rid of."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Yea, no duh! I have a plan for that. What else? I know something else has to be bothering you if you think I can't handle that tiny problem. What else is bothering you?"

Shadow paused, trying to figure out how much he wanted to tell her. Rouge was one thing- she could look past the harsh language, and understand exactly what he meant without becoming angry… most of the time. He supposed it came with years of knowing each other, but with Amy...

"...No..." he thought to himself angrily, "She was right. Regardless of what I meant in the moment, what I had to say was worse than any intent that I had."

So he told her the truth. Almost in its entirety he told her about his talk with Sonic after her last mission, minus the mention of Mantis Knights, as small as it made him feel to omit that. About how Sonic had convinced him to be a groomsman **["Absolutely humiliating," he admitted, "Being drunk is... not worth it." "Well... maybe a little," he thought as Amy tried to smother her giggling next to him]**. How he felt when he heard the screaming and burst through the door **["I thought you were about to get into a physical fight. I wanted to be sure you had backup."]**. He finished with his thoughts on her breakdown.

"I hated seeing you like that," Shadow murmured, "I hated seeing you feel so powerless. I hate seeing you feel like you were regressing and becoming worse as a person and as a warrior. Seeing you that vulnerable... I remember it. I remember not feeling like I could trust anyone with those thoughts. Everything I did... I made everything so much worse."

Amy's frown was a contemplative one, but her voice was cautious and measured, "Are... you afraid of the mistakes I could make?"

Shadow matched her expression and tone, "I... don't think you are going to be an accessory to an alien invasion, no."

Amy snorted and Shadow felt his own frown ease before continuing, "I'm more worried about what could happen to you, if you felt like you needed to handle everything on your own. I remember waking up to so many strangers with so many questions in my head that I had no idea how to figure out who I could trust. It took even longer to find out who I could count on.

"I... I'm sorry I treated you so shamefully," he finally apologized, "I didn't take the time to consider if you had a plan of action or not. All I could see was the danger you were in and the pain you had been in before. I shouldn't have stepped in like that, and I promise you that should I feel the need to do something like that again, if there's time, I will share my concerns. Do you... consider me someone you could count on for that?"

Shadow's heart pounded as millions of doubts in his heart coursed through his veins. Even as Amy's voice rang with full of clear conviction not a moment later, "Of course I can count on you! I just want you to feel like you can count on me too."

Now Amy pulled out a piece of paper from her gloves, unfolded it and gave a small, tentative smile, "I... have a few concerns I want to share with you."

Shadow gave an uncomfortable smirk, but squared his shoulders and nodded for her to continue.

"Okay! First off! One we just agreed on. I need you to be more vocal with me. No more assumptions or just taking things from my house. I can't really talk too much about... _that thing_ , but I'm always happy to talk to you about whatever's on your mind. No more bottling stuff up like this, okay?"

Shadow grunted and nodded in affirmation. Satisfied, Amy went to the next thing on her list, "Okay, I got an apology from you already, that's awesome, don't need that anymore. Thank you for doing it without me asking. I'm glad you understood why I was angry."

Shadow raised an eyebrow, "You were going to ask me to apologize?"

"Yeah?" Amy asked in confusion, "Why?"

Shadow sat in silence for a bit, ruminating in the odd feelings in his chest. On the one hand, he was grateful for the benefit of the doubt he was being given. One the other...

"Apologies you have to ask for aren't worth much to me," he finally answered, "Thank you for offering me that option but... if I hadn't given one without prompting... would this have been salvageable?"

Amy thought about it a moment before smiling, "I think as long as you mean it and you don't do it again, it's worth a lot more than you think."

She nudged him playfully from the side, "But you're right. I think it's worth a lot more when you don't have to ask."

Shadow met her gaze with a small, cautious smile before nodding to her list, "What next?"

"Okay then number three! We had a rule about 'that's classified'!"

"I thought that was a joke," he murmured shamefully.

"It wasn't and now it applies to me too!" Amy chastised, "So! When either of us say, 'That's classified,' it means 'I'm not ready to talk about that right now. Maybe even never. I don't like to keep secrets from you, because I love you and I trust you. But I want you to trust me that the secrets that I'm keeping for me are... just for me.' Okay?"

Shadow nodded in assertion.

"And one last thing..."

Amy folded up the note, stood up and brushed off the dirt from her butt. Shadow's heart felt ill at ease as she slowly stretched with a smug smile on her face. He lost patience when she started pacing with that same mischievous twinkle in her eye, "You're milking this. What do you want?"

"You broke my front door."

Shadow blanched at that, "...Yes. I did."

"I need a new one."

"...Right," he agreed, "How much?"

Amy wagged her finger, "Ah ah ah, not so fast. You see, it's been over a week and I naturally already have a brand new door ready to go! I just need you to put it in for me..."

Now his eyes narrowed- he knew if he wasn't paying with cash he was going to have to pay another way, "...And?"

"...And, oh... wouldn't you know it? It _really_ doesn't match the back door either!" Amy continued, an evil grin plastered on her face, "And I have one for that too...and I thought- why stop there? So I got new doors for my whole house! So you're going to help me replace _all_ of my doors. All six of them!"

Amy bent over with a cheeky smile on her face as she leered down at Shadow, her hands folded neatly behind her back. Her quills gently swayed side to side from her movement, and her jade eyes were sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight.

Shadow smiled in response, it was the single cutest thing he'd seen in a long while, "If that's all it takes. Tell me when."

Amy pouted and Shadow's smile turned into a smug smirk. She held out a finger, "Tomorrow's Sunday. Let's make it our 'Sunday Funday'! We'll make it nice and early! How about six in the morning? That's not too early for you, is it?"

Now Shadow stood, stretching and languidly placing his hands on his hips, "I suppose I have time after my morning work out. And the second watering of the day. I suppose I'll have to put off working on my bike, but if it means making it up to you, so be it."

"Yea, yea, sure thing, tough guy!" Amy teased, "Just don't be late for our date, now~."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "This shit again?"

"What~?" she asked with a slow shrug, "You said you were my knight in shining armor, didn't you? Or were you just playing with this young, and beautiful, maiden's heart, you big tease!"

Shadow chuckled, "Please, you're the one who just said you..."

He froze, his tone suddenly very much not playful anymore, "...You heard me."

Amy grimaced, "...I did."

The air grew thick around him and it was all Shadow could do to look her in the eye, "I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that."

Amy stepped slowly towards him, took his hand so gently into hers that he nearly flinched at her touch, and patted it gently, "...I get it. I know how it must have looked... But... you don't really think I'm that weak all the time, do you?"

Shadow squeezed her hand gently in his in response, "Not weak... just... mortal."

He looked up at the sky, the dusk was settling in and making way for the stars, "I've seen you do so many things over the years. Everyone has their limits. I don't want us to find out your limits the hard way."

Amy looked up at him, then back up at the sky. He felt a hum from her before she patted his shoulder for attention. When he turned to her, she had an easy smile on her face that made his heart sing, "Just one more favor for me then."

As her smile grew more smug than before, and he felt his heart start to quiver in fear.

"Kneel for me."

He knew it, "What?"

"Kneel for me."

"Why?"

"Do you trust me or not?"

Shadow rolled his eyes and slumped fluidly into a kneel. He shrugged with his hands out in a petulant, "what now" sign. In response Amy pulled her hammer out from behind her. Shadow's eyes widened in shock then narrowed in skepticism, "What are you doing?"

"Since You want to be my knight in shining armor so badly- and I'm a princess- I can do that, you know!" Amy answered teasingly, "So what do you say? You willing to serve me faithfully as Sir Shadow the Ultimate Busy Body?"

Shadow gave her a deadpan look before rising from the ground, "No."

"OH COME ON! How about Sir Shadow the Stubborn Jerk?"

"We're done here," he barked, struggling to keep the smile off of his face.

"Okay, okay, I get it. How about Sir Shadow of Edge-a-lot!"

"I'm going home now!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! I got it! How about Sir Shadow the Dramahog?"

This went on until Shadow was through the portal back home in his tiny apartment, annoyed but deeply amused and relieved. The evening had gone far better than anything he thought it could be. It wasn't until years later that he realized it was the first time Amy Rose ever told him she loved him.


End file.
